President Muhammadu Buhari has said the Saki-born minister of communication, Adebayo Shittu and other aggrieved party members should be free to seek legal redress.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) recently barred members from taking the party to court.
In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, the President said: “We can’t deliberately deny people of their rights. We agreed that party primaries should be conducted either through direct, indirect or consensus methods, and if anyone feels unjustly treated in the process, such a person can go to court.
“The court should always be the last resort for the dissatisfied. For the party to outlaw the court process is not acceptable to me.”
The APC, in a decision ascribed to the National Working Committee (NWC), had last week threatened to punish members who had sued the party to court.
The statement said: “The Party intends to activate constitutional provisions to penalise such members as their action is capable of undermining the Party and hurting the Party’s interest.
“We hereby strongly advise such members to withdraw all court cases while approaching the appropriate party organs with a view to resolving any outstanding disputes. In addition to this, aggrieved members are urged to take full advantage of the reconciliation committees the party has put in place.
“APC members should understand that as a progressive party that operates on the principle of change, it is not a matter of choice to keep to the rules.”
President Buhari has advised members to work with the reconciliation committees empanelled for the six geo-political zones by the APC, and not a purported Presidential Committee on Reconciliation, stressing that the party is the only body authorised to constitute such committees
