The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Joash Amupitan, has warned the African Democratic Congress (ADC) against going ahead with its planned congresses and national convention without the commission’s supervision.
Amupitan gave the warning on Friday during an interview on Arise TV, following reports that the ADC intends to proceed despite INEC’s decision to withdraw recognition from a faction linked to David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola.
According to him, ignoring the situation could lead to serious legal consequences.
Amupitan explained that INEC’s action was based on an existing court order, not a random decision.
“So if they are going ahead with their congress, with their convention, it’s left for them to look at it, whether it is in contravention of the court.
“INEC didn’t just take a decision. We didn’t just wake up one day and took this decision. There was something that led to it. There was an order of court,” he said.
The INEC Chairman noted that the court had clearly instructed all parties to avoid taking any steps that could interfere with ongoing legal proceedings.
“Don’t do anything. Don’t take any step that will render any proceeding before the court nugatory,” Amupitan stated.
He added that the issue of holding congresses and conventions is already before the court and has not yet been resolved.
“So, if already they are asking that don’t do any congress, don’t do any convention, it is a relief that is being claimed. And especially they filed a motion for that purpose, that motion has not been determined,” he added.
Referring to past cases, Amupitan warned that failing to obey court orders can lead to election results being overturned.
“Let me tell you what happened in Zamfara. It happened in the past. We don’t want to conduct an election without this early warning, and at the end of the day, after you have won, the court again will come and declare the election invalid.
“And the implication is that the person with the second highest number of vote will be declared the winner,” he said.
He pointed to previous incidents in Plateau State where similar situations affected election outcomes due to non-compliance with court rulings.
“It happened in Plateau State during the last election… failure to obey the court order has consequences,” Amupitan said.
While he acknowledged that the party has the freedom to act as it chooses, he stressed that INEC is not willing to be involved in another avoidable electoral dispute.
They are at liberty to do whatever they want to do, but INEC do not want to go into this situation again,” he said.
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