The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national body has been restrained from dissolving the Rivers chapter of the State Executive Committee due to purported anti-party conduct by Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
Justice Ekwo delivered the verdict, declaring that the plaintiff—Mr. Desmond Akawo, the state excos chairman—had a strong case.
The PDP and its national chairman, according to Justice Ekwo, did not refute Akawo’s allegations.
The judge, who granted all of Akawo’s requests for relief, ruled that the party and its national chairman could not dissolve the state’s democratically elected excos for a four-year term in a unilateral manner without good reason.
Additionally, he issued an order of injunction prohibiting them from designating any individual or group of individuals as the state’s temporary caretaker committee until May 22, 2024.
A subsequent injunction order was issued by Justice Ekwo, prohibiting the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from recognizing or acknowledging any name as the PDP’s caretaker committee in the state other than those who were duly elected and represented by Akawo in the lawsuit.
In his lawsuit, Akawo named the National Working Committee (NWC) and National Executive Committee (NEC) members as well as the party’s immediate former national chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, as the first and second defendants.
He had asked the court to rule on whether they were ineligible to serve their term in light of Section 223 of the 1999 Constitution and Article 47(1) of the PDP Constitution (as revised in 2017).
The PDP leader claimed that he and the other members of the executive committee, the ward executive committee, and the local government area executive committees were sworn in and elected in accordance with the state congress, which took place on March 21, 2020. They are therefore eligible to serve out their four-year terms, which end on or around May 22, 2024.
The PDP and its national chairman threatened to unilaterally dissolve the Rivers chapter of SEC and replace it with an Interim Caretaker Committee on January 4, according to Akawo, who personally deposed to the affidavit.
But before the threat, he said, neither he nor any other state committee member had ever been questioned by them.
In order to prevent the party and the national chairman from terminating, suspending, or shortening the terms of the Rivers SEC, the LGA executive committees, and the ward executive committees until their four-year terms ended on May 22, 2024, he requested an order of injunction, among other reliefs.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
