Kashamu: I’m a member of PDP — whether anybody likes it or not

Buruji Kashamu, senator representing Ogun east, has rejected his expulsion from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The party’s national executive council (NEC) announced the expulsion of the senator — and three other members of the party in Ogun — after its meeting in Abuja on Monday.

The party did not give any reason for the action.

Reacting to the development via a statement, Kashamu said he remains a member of the PDP “whether anybody likes or not.”

He said the party did not follow due process in expelling him.

“It is clear from the ill-advised decision that the Prince Uche Secondus-led national working committee is lawless and undemocratic,” he said.

“No due process was followed as enshrined in the constitution of the party. Since the initial 30-day suspension lapsed on the 9th of January, 2018, they do not have any right to take any disciplinary action against me.

“This decision cannot stand because article 57 (6) of the PDP constitution says “any decision taken against a member who has not been informed of the charges against him or has not been given any opportunity of defending himself shall be null and void.”

Kashamu also said there are no less than two suits pending before an Abuja high court challenging his initial suspension.

The senator said the judge, in one of the cases, had ordered parties involved to “maintain the status quo.”

“Despite all these, if such an irrational decision was allegedly taken, the expulsion cannot stand,” he said.

“It does not have anything to do with me or any of my associates. It is instructive that the federal high court as per the Honourable Justice I.N. Buba on the 24th June, 2016, granted an order which the PDP from impeding the functions of the Engr. Adebayo Dayo-led Ogun state PDP exco “until the four years tenure to which they have been elected is spent (i.e. the state exco is to remain in office until 2020).

“Therefore, the purported expulsion cannot stand in the face of the rule of law. It is null and void. I and my associates are fully in the PDP whether anybody likes it or not.

“We will continue to operate with the law as PDP members, senator and exco.”

He also threatened to expose “the full story and history of Secondus and what transpired between him and the Adebutus on how they sold an empty shell of the Ogun state PDP structure to the Adebutus.”