INEC chairman deliberately sabotaging ADC - Senator Umeh

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By Madu Obi

The Senator representing Anambra Central senatorial zone and a chieftain of African Democratic Congress, ADC, Chief Victor Umeh, has accused the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Joash Amupitan, of deliberately sabotaging the party .

Speaking during the party's stakeholders meeting ahead of its planned Anambra State congress in Awka, Umeh said it was surprising that the chairman of an electoral body, who is not just a lawyer, but a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and a law professor, claimed not to know that internal party matters are not justiciable.

"The controversy over the ADC leadership is very simple and straightforward. We are talking about the court making an order in the leadership of African Democratic Congress, and people are busy discussing the order made by the court, which INEC, headed by a professor of law and a senior advocate of Nigeria, feigned ignorance that no court in Nigeria has jurisdiction to entertain any matter bordering on internal affairs of a political party or leadership of a political party", Umeh said.

According to him, the Supreme Court has delivered judgment a number of times in the past on this, adding that the oldest was in 1983.

He added: "The Supreme Court stated it that courts do not answer political questions. Issues concerning internal affairs of political party are not justiciable, including leadership of a political party. In other words, you can't bring to court such issues since 1983.

Then last year, for example, the Supreme Court in the case in the appeal brought by Senator Nenadi Usman against Julius Abure and the Labour Party, emphasized again that court has no jurisdiction to determine the leadership of a political party, or to get into any dispute involving internal affairs of a party or leadership of a political party. That was delivered on the 4th of April, 2025.

Then this year, we, the National Assembly, amended the Electoral Act, and in Section 83, subsection 5 of the Electoral Act 2026, as amended, said that no court in Nigeria shall entertain jurisdiction to hear any matter or suit concerning internal affairs of a political party. Is there any ambiguity in this?

So, whether the Federal High Court of Justice Nwite made any order or raised any issue, it cannot stand. And the Court of Appeal that made the damning order that INEC wants to rely on, to say now, 'oh, the order is that we should return to status quo and nobody should do anything', that will render the trial court proceedings nugatory.

The same Court of Appeal has no jurisdiction, because the matter in dispute is, who are the leaders of ADC? Is it David Mark and Rauf Aregbshola, or Nafiu Bala Gombe?

So the Federal High Court has no jurisdiction and the Court of Appeal has no jurisdiction. Even Supreme Court has no jurisdiction by this explanation. So they now made that order and INEC lapped on it to begin to say that there are issues in ADC.

That is murder. What they committed is murder and is unacceptable. They cannot do that. Nigeria is a country that is governed by laws, and the instances I have given you now show clearly that the two courts have no reason to meddle into this matter, and INEC that is acting on it is mischievous."

Umeh said Professor Amupitan knows that the two courts have no jurisdiction to entertain the matter and wondered why he is acting on it.