Peoples Democratic Party is not your personal property, Kashamu tells Secondus

Yanju Uwala in Abeokuta

The chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ogun State chapter, Senator Buruji Kashamu, has reaffirmed his membership of the party, saying that he remains a bonafide member of the party and no one can remove him.

Penpushing reports that, Kashamu, made this known in a statement , and argued that a statement by the National Chairman of the Party, Prince Uche Secondus, stating that he’s no longer a member of the party, that he has been expelled is a joke, adding that  Secondus is sowing seed of discord within the party.

The former Senator, however,  insisted that Peoples Democratic Party( PDP) does not belong to any individual,stressing,“as the National Chairman, he should be a father figure to all, not taking sides with some persons or stoking the fire of discord’.

‘At least, I am not one of those who left the PDP to sign a three-year agreement with the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) in the build up to the 2019 elections.” he stressed.

Penpushing further reports that, Kashamu argued that a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court had on the 10th of October, 2018, nullified his expulsion and declared him as a bonafide and financial member of the Ogun PDP.

“I need to let him (Secondus) know that the party at the national, state or local level is not about any individual. It is neither his private property nor is it mine. While it is true that he is the National Chairman of the PDP, it does not make him the owner or sole proprietor of the party who can determine or decide who is a member or not’, he warned.

“On the ill-informed and unjust expulsion that Prince Secondus spoke of, he may wish to go back and check his records again. He would find that prior to the 2019 general elections, an FCT High Court on the 10th of October, 2018, nullified my expulsion, describing it as “an act done in gross and wilful violation of an express order of court made on the 9th of January, 2018, directing parties to keep and maintain status quo and in particular not to carry out any disciplinary action…without first having recourse to this Court.

“The court went further to rule that, “The said letter of expulsion of 4 persons made by the Respondents hereof on the 1st of August, 2018 is hereby set aside and declared null, void and of no effect, in that it was made in gross violation of the aforesaid subsisting Order of Court.

“One of the four persons referred to in the above court order is the former State Chairman, Engr. Adebayo Dayo, who is now in league with those Prince Secondus is siding with’, Kashamu stated.

“The orders and judgment of the court have neither been appealed nor upturned. Thus, the judgment remains valid, subsisting and binding on the PDP; any contrary view again will be contemptuous of the court.

“This was the premise on which I emerged and contested as the Ogun State governorship candidate of the PDP during the 2019 general elections. So, for these reasons, as former member of the National Executive Committee of the PDP and an automatic member of the State Executive Committee, I remain a bonafide and financial member of the PDP in Ogun State’.

“I take it that our National Chairman is either too busy with national affairs of the party to appreciate the local politics and realities in Ogun State or he has forgotten that the unjust expulsion had since been nullified and does not exist in fact and in the face of the law.

Penpushing further reports that while Kashamu, was also speaking on the legality of the congresses held in the State, he said, “I have also read Prince Secondus talking about the legality or otherwise of the congresses held in Ogun State.

“My response would be that the matter is already subjudice and any other attempt to discuss it or do anything about it would be contemptuous of the court. If he does not want to play a fatherly role in mediating and reconciling the contending forces, I would advise that he should leave the judiciary to decide the issues.”