Obey Supreme Court judgment, give recognition to Omoaje – AA tells INEC

The Action Alliance (AA), has chastised the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu over the failure of the Commission to upload the name of its national chairman, Dr Adekunle Rufai Omoaje on its portal.

The party called on INEC to upload the name of Omoaje, who it said is the authentic national chairman, on the Commission’s portal and website without further delay.

The appeal came on the heels of the Supreme Court judgment that upheld the suspension and subsequent expulsion of Mr Kenneth Udeze, whom INEC recognized as the national chairman of the party.

Recall that Udeze and the former National Secretary of the party, Mr James Vernibe, had since been expelled from the party, a position which was substantiated by different courts including the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

The National Secretary of the AA, Comrade Miller Ogwu Miller Orgwu, in a statement on Thursday, said the decision of the Prof Mahmoud Yakubu-led INEC to give recognition to an expelled member was illegal as Udeze is not a recognized member of the party.

Orgwu therefore urged INEC to rescind its decision and accord the recognition of the national chairman of the Action Alliance to Omoaje, having been duly elected at the elective National Convention of the party held in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, and also won different cases instituted at different levels up to the Supreme Court.

The AA national secretary said, “It is an aberration for INEC to give recognition to Udeze as the national chairman of the party, the action of INEC is against the judgment of the Supreme Court.”

He argued that the electoral umpire has shown bias in the way and manner it handles leadership issues affecting the Action Alliance.

Orgwu alleged that INEC had on different occasions demonstrated bias in the leadership issues affecting the party as he was denied entry during a meeting called by the Commission for a briefing on the forthcoming governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states.

He said an expelled member of the party, James Vernibe, was allowed entry into the meeting while he was denied, based on the instructions of the INEC chairman who he alleged showed interest in Udeze and his team of expelled members of the AA.

“It has become imperative to call the attention of the whole world to the biased acts being perpetrated by the INEC chairman in particular and the commission as a whole.

“The national chairman of the Action Alliance is Hon (Dr) Adekunle Rufai Omoaje and this was substantiated by the Supreme Court. We are therefore taken aback on why the electoral umpire will still accord undue recognition to another person,” he lamented.

He cited the judgment of the Federal High Court, Abeokuta, Court of Appeal, Abuja, and the Supreme Court as evidence to prove that Omoaje is the recognized national chairman of the AA.

According to him, all the courts upheld the expulsion of Udeze from the party and gave credence to the emergence of Omoaje as the recognized and authentic national chairman of the party.