Several members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees (BoT) have rejected a communiqué issued after the party’s 83rd BoT meeting, describing it as unconstitutional, illegal, and null.
The aggrieved members conveyed their position in a letter addressed to former BoT chairman Adolphus Wabara, through their lawyers, C.T. Mue and Associates. The letter challenges paragraph eight of the communiqué, which reportedly announced the suspension of certain BoT members and referred them to the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) for disciplinary action.
According to their counsel, the PDP constitution limits the BoT’s powers to advisory, moral, custodial, mediatory, and harmonising functions under Article 32(5). The board, they argued, has no authority to discipline, suspend, or remove any of its members, making the alleged suspension ultra vires and null.
The lawyers cited Article 32(7), which allows removal of BoT members only by the national convention acting on the recommendation of the National Executive Committee (NEC). They stressed that no such recommendation or convention decision exists in this case, calling the alleged suspensions a “constitutional aberration.”
The members also questioned Wabara’s authority to issue the communiqué, noting that his tenure as BoT chairman had expired, meaning he lacked the legal standing to convene meetings, preside over them, or speak for the board. They described any meeting or resolution under such circumstances as legally ineffective and null.
The BoT members warned that any publication or action affecting their rights based on the disputed communiqué is unconstitutional, defamatory, and actionable, urging the public to disregard it. They demanded its immediate withdrawal, a public retraction of the suspensions, and formal recognition that the BoT has no disciplinary powers over its members.