The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, has cautioned the African Democratic Congress (ADC) against ignoring court orders in the leadership crisis rocking the party, warning of serious legal consequences.
Amupitan said any action taken in defiance of judicial rulings could result in the nullification of election victories, as witnessed in previous political disputes.
He cited the cases in Zamfara and Plateau States, where courts invalidated elections after parties failed to comply with court directives.
The INEC chairman, in an interview with Arise TV, said such situations often lead to candidates with the second-highest votes being declared winners.
Amupitan noted that while political parties have the freedom to take decisions, INEC would not act in ways that violate existing court judgements.
Amupitan said: “If they decide to go ahead, let me tell you what happened in Zamfara: it happened in the past. At the end of the day, after you have won, the court will declare the election invalid, and the implication is that the person with the second-highest number of votes will be declared the winner. It’s happened in Plateau State.
“Failure to obey the court order has consequences. They have liability to do whatever they want to do, but INEC doesn’t want to face a situation again where there is an order not to do anything or take any steps. I have the judgment here, and I can read it to you, is very definite.”
APC blames ADC for internal crisis, backs INEC’s decision on leadership dispute
The INEC chairman also condemned allegations that the electoral umpire had taken sides in the ADC leadership dispute, saying the commission’s actions were guided by the legal principle of maintaining the “status quo ante bellum.”
He reiterated that INEC’s position was aimed at ensuring compliance with the law and preventing avoidable legal disputes in the party’s leadership crisis.
“If they (ADC) are saying we have taken sides, that is not true, because if you look at the status quo ante bellum, we tried to interrogate it, and it means the status before the hostility started, the status before the war,” Amupitan added.
The Supreme Court nullified All Progressives Congress (APC) victories in Zamfara State in 2019 by declaring votes “wasted” due to a lack of valid primaries, handing wins to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In Plateau State, the Court of Appeal initially voided the election over PDP party structure issues in 2023, but the Supreme Court reversed this in 2024, reinstating the governor.
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