Former leader of the United Force (TUF) Manzoor Nadir and the party’s Chairman Ismail Muhammad have made an application to the Full Court for the dismissal of the injunction brought against them by Valerie Garrido-Lowe.
Nadir told this newspaper yesterday that on Monday attorney-at-law Robin Stoby made the application to the Full Court on their behalf. The substantive matter is still in the courts, reliable sources told this newspaper.
Last month, Garrido- Lowe obtained an injunction against party colleagues Nadir and Muhammad preventing them from interfering with her functions.
Two Thursdays ago, Garrido-Lowe received a favourable ruling from the court and she was returned as the party leader. The ruling ordered that “the defendants, Ismail Muhammad and Manzoor Nadir, together, by themselves, their servants or agents or workers or otherwise… be restrained and an injunction is hereby granted restraining the said Ismail Muhammad and Manzoor Nadir together, by themselves, their servants or agents or workers or otherwise… from interfering with the occupation and place of the plaintiff”. The lawyers for Muhammad and Nadir reportedly filed an application to dismiss the order but it was later dismissed by the judge after a hearing yesterday at the High Court. Muhamad and Nadir subsequently moved to the Full Court and are awaiting a decision in this matter.
TUF had been in a leadership crisis for several weeks with back and forth exchanges between the executives of the party, including Nadir and Garrido-Lowe. Garrido-Lowe had vowed to lead the party into this year’s elections without any affiliations to the ruling PPP and her outbursts on the issue resulted in disagreements with persons on the party’s executive, including Muhammad.
She had vowed to operate as leader of the party despite opposition from Muhammad and other party executives. The showdown between Garrido-Lowe and Muhammad stemmed from the former’s move to have Nadir vacate TUF’s seat in Parliament.
Garrido-Lowe issued a statement earlier this month saying that on August 31, TUF’s executive had met and removed Muhammad as a member of the executive and relieved him of his position as chairman of the party.
A resolution passed by Garrido-Lowe’s backers said this action had been taken against Muhammad, after he failed to turn up to a meeting to explain why he had sent a letter to the media supporting Nadir’s retention of the Parliament seat and had used the names of members of the executive without their permission.
