The Federal High Court in Abuja has issued a restraining order against the Peoples Democratic Party, preventing the party from appointing or nominating any individual to replace Umar Damagum as its Acting National Chairman.
This injunction remains in effect until the court reaches a decision on a lawsuit filed by two party chieftains.
In a ruling delivered by Justice Peter Lifu, the court issued the order based on “an affidavit of extreme urgency” submitted by the plaintiffs.
The suit, identified as FHC/ABJ/CS/579/2024, was filed by Senator Umar Maina and Alhaji Zanna Gaddama.
The defendants in the case, numbered as the 1st to 5th defendants, include the PDP, its National Working Committee, National Executive Committee, Board of Trustees, and the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The court said, “The defendants/respondents are hereby restrained in the interim, from appointing, selecting, nominating any person to replace Ambassador Umar Damagum as National Chairman or Acting National Chairman of the the 1st defendant/respondent, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice already filed which is herein fixed against the 14th of May, 2024.
The defendants/respondents by themselves, agents, privies or by any proxy, are hereby in the interim, restrained from according recognition to any person other than Ambassador Damagum as Acting National Chairman of the 1st defendants/ respondents or giving effect to or acting upon any document purporting to be signed by the National Chairman or Acting National Chairman of the 1st defendant without the name and signature of Ambassador Umar Illiya Damagum, pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice already filed in Court in the instant suit.
The Applicants are herein ordered to enter into a fresh undertaking to pay damages to the Respondents (to be assessed by the Court) if, at the end of the day, it is discovered that this order ought not to have been granted or that the Honourable Court was misled into granting some.
The return date is herein fixed against the 14th day of May 2024, for the hearing of the Motion on Notice dated and filed on the 2nd of May, 2024,” the court added in the ex-parte order that was made on May 3 but obtained by newsmen on Wednesday.
Damagum has survived several attempts to remove him from office.
Damagum, who previously served as the PDP National Deputy Chairman (North), assumed the role of acting National Chairman following the suspension of the party’s National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, by the court.
The PDP’s National Working Committee has frequently expressed its full support for Damagum.
