The ding-dong over the Appeal Court judgment ordering the reinstatement of Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola as National Secretary may not end anytime soon.

The leadership of the PDP has continued to peruse the rule books to justify the suspension clamped on the ex-Osun State governor and three other chieftains of the party. It said the PDP would no longer take further humiliation from the suspended chieftains.

The quartet of Oyinlola, Abubakar Kawu Baraje, Dr. Sam Sam Jaja and Amb. Ibrahim Kazaure were on Wednesday, suspended for what the party described as anti-party activities.

The quartet and others formed a breakaway faction of the ruling party, called New PDP, an action which the promoters of the faction said was meant to draw attention to the culture of impunity being entrenched by the Bamanga Tukur- led PDP.

At a news conference yesterday, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, said regardless of the protestations by the suspended party officers, the suspension had come to stay.

When his attention was drawn to the similarity in the circumstances that preceded the suspension of Oyinlola and that of Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, Metuh retorted that the question was about whether or not they committed the offence for which they were suspended.

Amaechi was suspended in May, shortly after he won election as chairman of the Nigerian Governors' Forum (NGF). Oyinlola was suspended five days after a Court of Appeal ordered his reinstatement as National Secretary of the PDP.

"The question of their suspension is not about timing. The question is; are there reasons for the disciplinary action against them? Did they or did they not commit the offence for which they were suspended?" Metuh queried.

Going down memory lane, Metuh recalled that as National Secretary of the PDP, Baraje was one of the National Working Committee (NWC) members that suspended a former President of the Senate, Chief Ken Nnamani and others who formed the PDP Reformed Group in 2010.

He also pointed out that Oyinlola and Jaja, while serving as National Secretary and Deputy National Chairman of the PDP in 2012, were members of the NWC that suspended a former National Vice Chairman (Northeast), Alhaji Grigri Lawal, for similar offences.

"You can now see that Oyinlola and his co-travellers are engaged in selective interpretation of the party's constitution and selective amnesia by protesting their suspension by the present NWC.

"The constitution of the PDP gives the NWC the powers to suspend any member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) or any member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) in emergency cases subject to ratification by the NEC.

"That is exactly what happened in the case of Oyinlola, Baraje and Jaja. Article 29 (2) b of our constitution empowers the NWC to act on behalf of the NEC.

"Article 57 (3) also empowers the NWC to suspend members at any level and refer them to the National Disciplinary Committee", Metuh maintained.

He insisted that the party has not been served a copy of the Appeal Court judgment ordering Oyinlola's reinstatement.

Asked if the PDP was aware of the judgment, Metuh said: "How do you get aware of something. The PDP is not a charitable organisation. We can't go to the Appeal Court to ask whether they have a judgment against us."