March 12, (THEWILL) – A civil society group under the canopy of Justice and Fairplay, has written to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), not to publish the name of Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia and APC for the 2023 governorship election in Benue State, even as the party said, there is no Court order to remove Alia’s name from INEC Portal.
The group stated that by the date of the judgement by the Appeal Court, Makurdi, between Prof. Terhemba Shija, APC, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, INEC delivered on the 23rd of January 2023, the Appeal Court had powers to either Nullify or Uphold the Federal High Court judgement but did not have the powers to order for a rerun of the primary election because 180 constitutional days allowed for a candidate to emerge before the general elections had caught up with the case as provided in section 29(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 as amended.
“For this reason, INEC lacks the powers by law to reopen its portal to add the name of any candidate of a political party as it is in contravention of section 29(1) of the 2022 Electoral Act as amended.”
In a statement signed by Nura Garba and Musa Ammani, it was pointed out that it is only the death of the candidate of a political party that will warrant such a change or conduct of another primary election.
“Recall also that in the supreme court ruling between Hyacinth Alia, Prof Terhemba Shija, APC and INEC delivered on the 16th of February 2023 by Justice John Inyang Okoro justice of the Supreme Court, the two cross-appeals of Prof Terhemba Shija and Rev. Hyacinth Alia were dismissed because the counsel to Prof. Shija withdrew the case. Therefore, the supreme court did not issue any judgement.”
According to the statement, hence by law, the Appeal Court judgement still subsists, and the APC in Benue State with her governorship candidate cannot appear on the ballot of the 2023 general elections.
It further pointed out that the position of the Supreme Court judgement delivered on Wednesday 1st February 2023 in Appeal No. SC/CV/1564/2022 between Chief David Kente Vs Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, APC and INEC (2023) LPELR-59743 (SC), Justice Kudirat Motonmori Olatunko Kekere-Ekun stated clearly that no Court has the power to order for a rerun within 14 days because of the 180 days time constraint before general elections.
The group insists that the judgement also applies to the Benue APC rerun primaries because the 180 constitutionally allowed days caught up with the process, saying for this reason INEC must obey section 29 subsection 1 of the 2022 Electoral Act as amended.
In a swift reaction, the Director of Communication, Alialization/Ode Campaign Organisation, Mr Terso Kula, said, it looks like, because at no time was Alia’s name removed from the INEC portal.
In a statement, in Makurdi, Mr Kula said there was no valid order suggesting or ordering for his name to be removed from the INEC portal. Was INEC supposed to do it in isolation in a vacuum? He asked.
“If 180 days had caught up with the case, who is supposed to benefit since Alia was not the one that took them to court? Whose case would have been useless? They are merely groaning because they have been beaten”, he said.
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