 The Court nullifies PDP primary elections in Ogun and orders fresh exercise within 14 days. And INEC decries refusal of the APC, PDP and other parties to submit audited reports. This is Plus Politics. The Federal High Court Abel Kota Ogun State yesterday nullified the governorship primary elections conducted by the People's Democratic Party in the state. The presiding judge, Justice Ogun Tony Ball, in his judgement, ordered the party to conduct another primary within the next 14 days and also barred the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, from recognising Ladi Adibutu as governorship candidates of the party in the state. The plaintiff's contender that those on delegates list used by the electoral panel for the primaries were not democratically elected at the ward, local government and state congress. Well, joining us to discuss this is Dr. Sunday Sholari. He is the state secretary of the People's Democratic Party in Ogun State. Mr. Sholari, it's so good to have you join us. Good evening. It's my pleasure. Yes. The last time we spoke about Ogun State PDP and the situation that was taking place, I spoke with one of the governorship candidates or rather aspirants, Mr. Shogumi, and he did say he made a very serious case about how the PDP got its flag bearer. But now the court has ordered for fresh primaries to take place. What is the position of the party? Of course, the party must do what the court is saying. But what are the things that need to be fine-tuned, especially because the case that the plaintiff made was that those who were used as delegates for that election were not necessarily democratically elected. What's the party going to do now? Well, one is surprised that an aspirant of the party could mislead the court by presenting false information. Part of what we were able to deduce from the judgment, though we are still waiting for the satisfactory copy of the judgment, where a lawyer will sit down and take a custody look or detailed look at the judgment in entirety before we have informed opinion about the next line of action to be taken. But however, part of what the judge was mentioning yesterday was that the delegates used West Statute 3 delegates, which is obviously false and outright falsehood. But however, the party is still waiting for the satisfactory copy of the judgment to be made available. We will look at it and then we have two options. One of the options is perhaps to heed the order of the court. And the second option is perhaps to go on appeal. And there's no option we'll take that the party will not be comfortable with. If the primary were heard under a free, fair and transparent process, we shouldn't be afraid to have a repeated occurrence of such free exercise to be conducted. However, like I have said, not until the satisfactory copy is made available, the party will not have an informed position yet to take. And when the certified true copy gets handed to you, I'm asking, I'll ask the same question I asked earlier on. Will the party go as far as the local government to have democratically elected delegates to make sure that this process is free, fair, credible and transparent, even though you're saying that a member of your political party or the two men who actually went to court on this matter seem to have lied on oaths? Is this what you're saying? Yes, obviously, because similar matters have been educated in the Federal High Court of Abuja. And one will believe that Federal High Court is one, not minding the judicial division where pronouncement is made. In July 29, 2022, Justice Taiwatao of Federal High Court of Abuja ruled that the court lacked the reduction to interfere in the internal management of the political party, which of course included who will be the delegate in the primary election of a political party. Justice Taiwatao relied on a lot, I mean, an avalanche of judicial pronouncement by higher court and it arrived at the fact that whether a delegate is correct or not is not just accessible by the court of law and one wonders why such a position has been reversed in this instant judgment. But like I said, however, even if the process is repeated, because let me also admit that the delegate that took part in the primaries were democratically elected and like I said, the court was being misled by saying that they were statutory delegates because the Electoral Act 2022 did not envisage participation of statutory delegates in any primaries whatsoever and this did not happen. But however, whatever the court says, the party being an instrument of the law will obey it. Let's talk about internal democracies within the PDP in Ogong State. When I spoke with one of the plaintiffs, one of the people, members of your political party who was also in the running for the position of the governor, he spoke about the National Working Committee trying to weigh in on this matter, but that the state was not necessarily welcoming that peaceful process. Enlighten us as to how the National Working Committee has waded into this matter because it seems like feathers have been ruffled and so many had agreed within your party in the state. But the National Working Committee of the party did not show any particular interest in the affair of PDP in Ogong State. What the National Working Committee did was to construct primaries in all the states of the federation and Ogong State being inclusive in this process, participated in the exercise, you know, by the time table, you know, given by INEC and the National Working Committee. So there is no any time, you know, in the history, I mean, this process that the National Committee took particular interest to double into this affair. The process was, you know, not interfered with, the primary were conducted, the setup committee to come and conduct primaries in Ogong State and this committee came to Ogong State, conducted the primary, wrote their report, issued their result and then returned it back to the National Working Committee. And one would now wonder why it has become, according to the plaintiff, the responsibility of INEC to satisfy, you know, the result generated from nowhere because the communication between the Commission and the political party is through the National Working Committee. And all the correspondence, you know, put before INEC, by the National Working Committee of the party is what we expect INEC to be. And in this system, INEC actually obeyed it, acknowledged the result of Congresses that were held in Ogong State, you know, affirmed it and, you know, like I said, court must have been misled to pronounce the last document that it did. But we're not afraid. The party is not afraid. The National Working Committee is unperturbed because they were aware that the process took place under a free and fair atmosphere. And if the court, you know, so desires that the process should be, you know, reestablished, why not go ahead, having studied the satisfactory copy of the document that we anticipate to get tomorrow, you know, or any time soon. Even as the court has ordered, what is your party doing at the state level? And I'm talking about your chairman and the members of the executive to deal with those who are grieved. Because again, today is the beginning of campaign season. And for many others in different political parties, they're already strategizing as to how their campaign would go. But then, of course, the People's Democratic Party seems to be faced with this issue. And then you have 14 days in which you have to conduct this primary to make sure that it's fee-free and credible. What moves are you making within the party to make sure that all those who are grieved will be coming together for whoever in support of whoever emerges at the end of the day? Well, frankly speaking, the party is actually not happy that we have to, you know, to get ourselves confronted with unwarranted destruction, perhaps a process that we should have put behind us. We now have reason to begin to look back why we're supposed to be marching forward. But however, this will, of course, not deter us because we have set our eyes on the ball and we have charged all our members to, of course, focus on the common goal, which is the corporate goal of the party that is to win a contraband of government, you know, in the coming election. We have, however, been trying to appeal to those who could not make it to the level of becoming the candidate of the party that is those who fail at the primaries to let us work together. And I can tell you it has been a positive result for a couple of times. We've been receiving the pep talks from other political parties and I can tell you as I'm talking to you now, there is no history or events that took place in the state. We are members of PDP with the camp embers to other political parties. Rather, we have been having members of APC, APM, ADC defecting to PDP because of the semi-unity and the way the party is being managed in Auguste. And I can confirm to you that in the couple of days by the time we will be out of this, you know, deliberate mischief, then we will begin to embark on the same voyage of accepting defectors back into the party. There have been allegations that you're the candidate that the party leadership in your state had accepted as the flag bearer, which whose name was also submitted to INEG, seemed to have been funding the party in a way. Many have said that he seemed to have been sharing money, hence why the party decided to give him the ticket. Do you care to respond to that? Well, I don't know anything about this. Honourable letter to who is the flag bearer of PDP in Nogu State. Yes, no doubt is one of the financier of the party, is the leader of the party. And being a leader, you have to provide leadership in our education. So could that be that because he's a financier of the party, was very comely and easy for the party to give him the ticket as opposed to allowing for free fair and credible elections to happen? Okay. Let me tell you this. This is somebody who had been in the party since 1998. You cannot compare his political network, his acceptability, his penetration within the party with somebody who came to the party barely three or four months ago. They are not incomparable. There is no way somebody with over two decades standing within the party will measure up, you know, with somebody who had not even spent six months in the party. So if you actually want to use, you know, if you actually want the party to service you must have also service the party. It is not a function. So you're addressing my point that the party, since it has been serviced and financed, this is somewhat of a reward system. Hence why he's your preferred candidate. He has a over two decade fraternity with members of the party. My question is a yes or no question. No, that is not. You can't, you can't make that directly to it. This man has suffered in this party, he has represented the party. That is why you want to reward him. Definitely because he desubsid. I was hoping that you would give me that answer. Yes, he desubsid, he desubsid. So is it true that there were, there was no free, fair, incredible election because the party had already decided who they wanted to get that ticket? Because the delegate of the party who supported a candidate that is well known to them. I'm telling you that this person has related with the party for over two decades. So the other candidate who came, came in fact, got into the party with a nomination form. So he was not a member of the party, he does not have history in this party. If he wasn't a member of your party, why let him go through the process of picking up a ticket, going through the whole, you know, the high jump, and then when it was decided that, oh, because this guy has been funding us, let's just give him the ticket. Why, why do you say today that this other guy is not a member of your political party? He hasn't suffered like the other man. Is it about, is our political party supposed to be a reward system of sorts? What about allowing for free, fair, incredible elections so that the people who eventually vote for you can also understand that there is some form of internal democracy? If you can't do that, why should people vote for you? No, where do you put the position of long service? You know, there's no way you compare somebody who had enjoyed long service in the party with somebody who just came into the party. Whoever just came into the party should be patient. Of course, if he participated in the primary, he could have won if he had been able to get himself well acquainted with delegates who were supposed to vote for him. So this is not a question of somebody. It's a matter of long service. There is no way the party would have made a mistake of nominating somebody who they have not known. You see, we cannot do all the, we have to look at certain criteria. And like I told you, long service, you know, long service and that are able to do the ticket that he got, not because he spent, or he has spent, he will also put his money to it. The party has a principle of free entry and exit. Anybody can join the party at any particular point in time. And you will also be accorded the right and privileges that is also available to somebody who has been in the party from time immemorial. But that now is standing. When it now comes to the mandate of the party, you will not want to give your vehicle to a driver that you are not very sure of his driving skill. And you are not to also quite sure of his ability to navigate the road very well. Finally, just walk with me here. I'm sorry, Mr. Chalari, but just walk with me here. I want to paint a scenario. So you're telling me that, for example, I joined, let's say, the PDP in Ogun State. All I need to do is fund the party, be a longstanding member. Now, my credibility, my ability to deliver on dividends of democracy or even have any form of leadership skills may not matter, but then long services, what is your priority? Help me understand this, please. This can only be established if you have, you know, if you have an endurance history of all of it. There's no way you can establish this factor you have just mentioned by spontaneous action. So it is true observation. It is true your character. It is true your steadiness. It is true your emotional stability and your ability to have been identified with the party during the time of trouble. So it is not sufficient for us to say that somebody who just came and you have not been able to examine him, you do not have his history and you will now say, okay, let us now ask this person because for example, like I just gave an analogy, you cannot give your vehicle to a driver that you are not sure of his driving skill and you are not sure of his ability to navigate the road. And you can only know this via the experience that you have. And experience is what we have been talking about. We now have a candidate who has not even had an experience or is an history of one month standing in the party. You know, PDP is a major political party and political leaders will not take such gamble. He has never stood for any election once. I mean let alone winning one. So we also have to look at the political marketability of the candidate of the party because that is going to be the image of the party and the outer ego of the party during election. So we have to consider a lot of factors. And when you now look at all of this, I can tell you that on a ladder they will stand so that high, more than any other person. And let me say this, one of the reason why the party has stood there is that this man has an history of over three decade consecutive habitation in Auguste. He has dwelled wine and dine with people of Auguste. They know him and they can entrust into his hand their mandate. So we have looked at all of this and because of course within the party and outside the party he has the widest political network that the party can leverage on to win election. Well we're looking forward to of course the 14-day ultimatum that the court has given to the party and what comes off it. We'll be watching and we wish you all the best of luck. Hopefully you'll come back to us and give us feedback on what happened. Thank you very much. It's my pleasure to be with you. All right. Dr. Sande Shallari is the state secretary of the People's Democratic Party in Auguste. We'll take a quick break when we return. We'll be talking about the refusal of political parties to submit audited reports to INEC. Now INEC obviously is worried about this. Thank you very much.