AA faction says Al-Mustapha not presidential candidate of celebration, accuses INEC

A faction of the Motion Alliance (AA) has stated the refusal of the Unbiased Nationwide Electoral Fee (INEC) to add the names of its candidates on its portal could truncate the forthcoming common elections.

It additionally stated Hamza Al-Mustapha will not be the genuine presidential candidate of the celebration.

The Nationwide Chairman of the group, Adekunle Omo-Aje, said this at a press convention in Abuja on Saturday.

He spoke towards the background of the management tussle rocking his celebration, which gave rise to the emergence of two presidential candidates.

It could be recalled that in a nationwide congress held by the Omo-Aje management final 12 months and monitored by INEC, Solomon-David Okanigbuan emerged the celebration’s presidential candidate.

However Mr Al-Mustapha, former safety aide to late Nigerian dictator, Sani Abacha, gained the presidential major election carried out by the faction led by Kenneth Udeze, on 9 June, 2022, in Abuja.

The INEC had recognised all of the candidates introduced to it by the Udeze-led faction of the celebration, regardless of court docket judgements declaring that he was not a member of the celebration. The court docket additionally ordered INEC to just accept and publish the names of candidates despatched to it by the Omo-Aje management of the AA.

Mr Udeze continues to be listed on INEC web site because the nationwide chairman of AA.

‘Yakubu plotting towards 2023 elections’

Mr Omo-Aje accused INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, of failing in his duties by refusing to adjust to the order of the court docket asking the fee to add the names of all candidates.

“We fulfilled all INEC electoral pointers and necessities in accordance with the Nigerian Structure with the fee, but he (Mr Yakubu) is hell bent on excluding Motion Alliance from the approaching 2023 Normal Elections,” he stated.

He additional alleged that “…Yakubu is covertly orchestrating a clandestine plan towards the 2023 elections, and Motion Alliance won’t fold our arms and watch our nascent democracy rubbished and wounded.”

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He additionally stated as a substitute of Mr Udeze to problem his suspension and expulsion from the celebration, he instituted a number of court docket circumstances urging the courts to declare him nationwide chairman of the celebration however misplaced all.

Mr Omo-Aje stated the celebration would stage a peaceable protest to the Nationwide Meeting to press dwelling their calls for.

Authorized tussle

PREMIUM TIMES reported {that a} faction of AA had introduced Mr Al-Mustapha to INEC because the celebration’s presidential candidate for the February election.

Zainab Abubakar, a Federal Excessive Court docket choose in Abuja had ordered INEC to take away Al-Mustapha’s identify because the AA’s presidential flagbearer for the 25 February ballot.

Court docket orders INEC to exchange Al-Mustapha as AA’s presidential candidate

In Ms Abubakar’s judgement on the Federal Excessive Court docket, the choose nullified all of the lists of nominees, together with Mr Al-Mustapha’s, submitted to the electoral umpire by a factional chief of the celebration, Mr Udeze.

The choose upheld the plaintiff, Mr Omo-Aje, who instituted the go well with, because the genuine nationwide chairman of the AA, and his lists of nominees because the celebration’s set of legitimate candidates for varied workplaces for the forthcoming 2023 common elections.

Equally, the Court docket of Enchantment in Abuja final Thursday struck out an attraction which sought to revive Mr Al-Mustpha as presidential candidate of the AA.

READ ALSO: Ex-Abacha’s CSO, Al-Mustapha, denies looting Nigeria’s treasury

Main a three-member panel of the Court docket of Enchantment, Monica Dongban-Mensem, who’s the President of the appellate court docket in a ruling, stated the attraction was incompetent.

Mr Udeze, the sacked Chairman of the AA celebration, had sought to upturn the nullification of Mr Al-Mustapha and others’ candidacy.