Mohammed Shosanya

Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, has restrained the National Executive Committee (NEC) and Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from removing Ambassador Umar Ilya Damagum as the Acting National Chairman of the party.

The court on Friday, ordered that no other person must be recognized as PDP national chairman other than Damagum until the national convention of the party scheduled for December next year.

The plaintiff,who claimed to be Chairman of PDP in Yobe State had filed the legal action against the PDP and eight others, claiming that some stakeholders of the party have been holding secret meetings to forcefully remove Damagum from office in gross violation of the party’s Constitution.

Justice Lifu made the order against the PDP hierarchy while delivering judgment in a suit filed against them by Senator Umar El-Gash Maina.

In the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/ CS/579/2024, the court held that PDP members are bound by the Constitution of the party and as such must always act in line with the provisions and obedience to the party’s law.

Besides,Justice Lifu reasoned that in line with Articles 42, 47 and 67 of PDP, it is only at the National Convention of the party that national officers can be elected.

He stated that after going through the PDP’s Constitution and exhibits, he agreed with the plaintiff that Damagum can only be replaced at the national convention of PDP or through an order of a court.

The court held that any attempt to truncate an un-exhausted four-year tenure of the northern region without the national convention of the party will amount to an affront to the Constitution of the PDP.

The Judge had earlier in his judgment, dismissed the objection of the defendants to the suit on the grounds that the plaintiff had no locus standi to bring out the case and that the court lacked jurisdiction.

Justice Lifu said  that the plaintiff based his suit on the protection of PDP Constitution from being breached and the northern region where he hails from, being short changed from the four year tenure.

The court stated that the plaintiff having displayed his PDP membership card before the court and having raised the fundamental issue of protecting PDP’s Constitution, had sufficient interest and justiciable cause to institute the case.

According to the court, Damagum having been appointed from the northern region where the former national chairman Senator Iyorcha Ayu hails from is entitled to serve out the remaining tenure of the national chairman.

In an affidavit filed before the court, the plaintiff averred that a former Deputy Governor of Kogi State, Dr Phillip Omeiza Salawu was being pushed forward as replacement for Damagun by the stakeholders.

Maina claimed that upon becoming aware of the plan, two separate letters complaining against the clandestine meetings were delivered to the national secretary of the party, Senator Samuel Anyanwu and that despite the acknowledgment of the two letters, the National Secretary and BoT members have never deemed it fit to act on the letters and their claims.

In the suit instituted on his behalf by Joshua Musa, SAN, the plaintiff therefore prayed the court to invoke article 45, 47 and 67 of PDP Constitution to stop the move to replace Damagum as the Acting National Chairman.

The plaintiff specifically asked the court to declare that the national chairmanship of PDP is rotated between the north and south region and not through any other procedure not enshrined in the PDP’s constitution.

Mohammed Shosanya

The management of Realnews Magazine and Publications Limited, publishers of Realnews Magazine Online,has announced that Prof. Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, former Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, and former Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, will deliver the Realnews 12th Anniversary Lecture.

The lecture on “Africa in World Shifting Geopolitics,Matters Arising on Democracy,Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Natural Resources”,will be held at the Sheraton Hotel, Lagos, on Tuesday, November 19, 2024.

Ambassador Gambari’s acceptance to deliver the lecture was communicated to Realnews in an email dated April 27, 2024 that he sent, stating:“I am delighted to re-confirm my acceptance in principle of the invitation to deliver the lecture.”

Gambari,a Nigerian academic and diplomat, served as chief of staff to the President of Nigeria from 2020 to 2023. Before this, Gambari was the longest-serving permanent representative of Nigeria to the United Nations from 1990 to 1999, under five Heads of State and Presidents, and minister of external affairs from 1984 to 1985.

At the UN, Gambari was the President of UNICEF in 1999; and became Under-Secretary-General and the first Special Adviser on Africa to  Secretary-General Kofi Annan from 1999 to 2005. He was the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations for Political Affairs from 2005 to 2007 under Secretary-Generals Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon. 

His last appointment in the UN was from January 2010 to July 2012, when he was appointed by Ban Ki-moon and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission as the Joint African Union-United Nations Special Representative for Darfur.

Born on 24 November, 1944, in Ilorin, Kwara State, Gambari attended King’s College, Lagos, and subsequently went to the London School of Economics where he bagged a B. Sc. (Economics) degree (1968) specialising in International Relations. 

Later he got his M.A. (1970) and Ph.D. (1974) degrees from Columbia University, New York, United States in Political Science and International Relations.

He taught at the City University of New York before working at the University of Albany and subsequently at Ahmadu Bello University, in Zaria, Kaduna State. From 1986 to 1989, he was a Visiting Professor at three universities in Washington, D.C.: Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Georgetown University, and Howard University.

He has also been a research fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C. and a resident scholar at the Bellagio Study and Conference Center, the Rockefeller Foundation-run center in Italy. 

He has authored many books and published articles in reputable journals in foreign policy and international relations, including the ‘Theory and Reality in Foreign Policy: Nigeria after Second Republic’.

The diplomat also served as the Minister for External Affairs between 1984 and 1985 under General Muhammadu Buhari’s military regime, after he was the director general of The Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA).  

The lecture will be chaired by Ms. Beatrice Eyong, UN Women’s Country Representative in Nigeria,who will also moderate the panel session,Maureen Chigbo,the Magazine’s Publisher/Editor,said in a statement on Thursday. 

Realnews,she said,is a general interest magazine, is an online publication that thrives on investigative journalism. 

She added:”We have expertise in reporting the oil and gas sector with its attendant environmental challenges. We aim to unearth exclusive stories about real people and the challenges they face in their day-to-day activities. We do this bearing in mind that government can only act to influence the lives of people positively if they are aware of their true situation.

“Hence,our objective is to use our investigative skills to ferret out information in the sectors we focus on and produce an unbiased report that will influence the government and decision-makers to take actions that will make society better”.

Realnews is populated by seasoned journalists who believe strongly in the tenets and ethics of the profession.

She quoted in the statement that the  online publication believes that journalism as the fourth Estate of the Realm can contribute its quota towards building a fair and just society where fundamental human rights are respected and citizens have the freedom to pursue their interests anywhere in the world without hindrance.

Its editors have a combined experience of several decades in active journalism practice and are highly dedicated to serving humanity. Hence its motto: “For God and Humanity.”

She said:”Realnews Anniversary Lecture Series was established to commemorate the best minds in our society and to tap from them to enrich the discourse in our national development”.

According to her,the 11th Anniversary Lecture in 2023 on The Threats of Illicit Funds Flow to the African Economy was delivered by Dr. Edwin W. Harris Jr., Director-General, ECOWAS Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA).

The 10th Anniversary lecture in 2022 on “Drug Abuse among Youths in Africa: Implication for Nigerian Economy and 2023 Elections” was delivered by Brig General Buba Marwa, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA; she said,while the  9th Anniversary Lecture of Realnews in 2021 was delivered by Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote, Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board on “Nigeria in the Unfolding Integration of the African Market: The Oil and Gas Perspective”.

She disclosed in the statement that the 2020 Eighth Anniversary Lecture of Realnews was delivered by Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Chairman of the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 on Managing COVID-19 Pandemic in Africa: The Nigeria Experience.

Former President John Dramani Mahama of Ghana gave the 2019 Lecture on Beyond Politics: An Economic Narrative for West Africa while Prof. Mahmood Yakubu spoke on Political Transitions and Africa’s Economic Development: Preparations for Nigeria’s 2019 General Elections at the 2018 Lecture,she said. 

The 2017 Fifth Anniversary Lecture on African Leadership in a Turbulent Era was delivered by Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, former minister of Education and former World Bank Vice President. 

She added:”The 2016 Fourth Anniversary Lecture on Security and National Development in Plural Democratic Society was delivered by Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, former United Nations Secretary General’s Special Representative to West Africa and Sahel; the 2015 Realnews Third Anniversary Lecture was delivered by Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on November 19, 2015, under the theme: It’s The Nigerian Economy, Stupid?”

The Second Realnews Anniversary Lecture on Nigerian Democracy: Getting it Right in 2014 was delivered by Professor Maurice Iwu, former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).