Legal luminary, Barr Ifeanyi Ejiofor, has tackled the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for derecognizing Julius Abure as the National Chairman of Labour Party, LP, just days after Mr Peter Obi dumped the party.
It could be recalled that Obi defected from the LP to the African Democratic Congress, ADC. Before now, key leaders of the LP have been prevailing on the INEC to honour the Supreme Court judgement which pronounced that Abure’s tenure had ended.
However, the Commission continued to recognize Abure until yesterday, January 7, when it wrote that Abure’s tenure had ended in line with the apex court judgement. INEC’s decision came exactly one week after Obi dumped the Labour Party, and Ejiofor did not find it pardonable.
In a statement he issued on Thursday, the lawyer said: “it is indeed most instructive that almost immediately His Excellency, Mr. Peter Obi, charted a new political course by departing the Labour Party for the ADC, Nigeria’s ever-vigilant electoral empire suddenly found its voice and hastened to reaffirm the Supreme Court’s settled position, that Mr. Abure’s tenure had long expired. One cannot help but marvel at the impeccable timing.
“Professor Amopitatan, far more is expected from you. Silence, hesitation, or selective alertness in matters of constitutional clarity does little to inspire confidence in the sanctity of our democratic institutions. The law, after all, is not a seasonal ornament to be displayed only when politically convenient; it is meant to speak firmly, consistently, and without fear or favour.
“May the Nigerian electorate be spared, henceforth, the indignity of witnessing another tragicomedy paraded as an electoral process. Democracy is far too serious a business to be reduced to a running joke, especially one whose punchline is always borne by the long-suffering citizen.”
As of the time of filing this report, it is unclear whether the commission will now accord full recognition to the Nenadi Usman-led Caretaker Committee. Most of the key members of the LP have already dumped the party, except Governor Alex Otti of Abia State.
