The Supreme Court has again set aside the November Ibadan convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) calling the activity as a flagrant contempt for judicial authority.
The main ruling by Justice Chidiebere Nwosu-Iheme sharply denounced the decision of the Tanimu Turaki-led faction to proceed with the convention despite subsisting court orders to stop it.
Justice Nwosu-Iheme, who delivered judgment in an appeal filed by the Turaki camp against Austin Nwachukwu and others, condemned the move as “pure madness”, emphasising that disobedience to any court order is disobedience to the entire judiciary.
In a three-to-two divided ruling, the top court also rebuked political parties for what it called a steady trend of eroding the rule of law.
It observed that courts often made a mockery and caricature of lawful court judgments and also criticized some judges for allowing their courts to be utilized for forum shopping.
Justice Nwosu-Iheme cautioned that if such “irresponsibility” continued, it may degenerate into what she called “doomsday dimensions,” stressing that the judiciary would not sit back and let the legal order collapse.
Justices Mohammed Garba and Stephen Adah concurred with the majority judgment.
However, Justices Haruna Tsammani and Abubakar Sadiq Umar dissented in the judgement.
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