Ogun State Senator, Buruji Kashamu has declared that he is still a bonafide member of the People’s Democratic Party.

This comes after several online publications reported that Prince Uche Secondus, PDP National Chairman, had expelled the former senator.

Kashamu, prior to the 2019 general elections, had his expulsion nullified by an FCT High Court on October 10th, 2018. 

The Court went further to rule the said letter of the expulsion of 4 persons made by the Respondents on August 1st, 2018 null and void.

The PDP in Ogun state has been embroiled with lots of controversies, the recent having to do with the Ijebu-Igbo council of elders (ICE) compelling former State Leader, Engr. Adebayo Dayo to step down due to anti-party activities and power tussle.

READ MORE: OGUN PDP CRISIS: ICE COMPELS BAYO DAYO TO STEP DOWN AS CHAIRMAN

Kashamu, who served as the senator representing Ogun East in the 8th National Assembly said in a Press Release that the PDP is not the property of the National Chairman. He went further to say Uche Secondus’ position as chairman doesn’t make him the sole proprietor or owner of the party and can’t decide who stays or leaves the party.

This was contained in a press release issued on May 16th, 2020.

The Release Reads;

My attention has been drawn to a report in the ThisDay newspaper of May 16th, 2020, and several online publications, in which the National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus said I am not a member of the PDP because, according to him, I had been expelled from the party.

First, I need to let him 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. 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.

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 October 10th, 2018, nullified my expulsion, describing it as “an act done in gross and wilful violation of an express order of Court made on January 9th, 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 August 1st, 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.

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