A constitutional lawyer,, has said that the Supreme Court ruling, which sent the African Democratic Congress, ADC, back to the Federal High Court, is not a setback for the party.
The Supreme Court had referred the case back to the Federal High Court while annulling the ruling of the Court of Appeal that prohibited the acknowledgment of Senator David Mark’s leadership as the National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress, ADC.
On Thursday, the apex Court ruled that the preservative order issued by the Court of Appeal was made in bad faith, unnecessary, unwarranted and improper.
A unanimous decision of the Supreme Court, by Justice Mohammed Lawal Garba, said the Court of Appeal should not have made such an order when none of the parties before it sought for it.
The Court of Appeal had earlier issued a status quo ante bellum order, leading to the de-recognition of David Mark and Aregbesola by INEC.
Many, especially the African Democratic Congress supporters, had felt that the Supreme Court judgement is a trap and a major setback to the party’s progress ahead of the general elections.
However, speaking on Arise News, Ezeako said “I don’t think it is a setback that the Supreme Court asked them to go back to the Federal High Court.
“I’ll tell you what it’s not. There is leadership of ADC as we speak headed by David Mark. The court has not pronounced any disqualification of their position; They have been elected by the party’s NEC.
“ADC has leadership and that leadership is led by Senator David Mark. The matter in court can be going on and that is the reason I say they are not in a tight corner.
“That is why I warned INEC about their future plans. They have no reason not to interact with the David Mark leadership.
The law says, give notice. They did so copiously; and whether INEC observes or not is their business. Once you have given that notice of 21 days, they must not. And whether they observe or not does not nullify the convention.
They have to comply with the law. Now it is left to INEC to accept it only to observe or not observe.
“One of the big things people have been talking about is that INEC has, by their timetable, by their timeline said all political party must submit their register membership registers by May 10. Yes, you don’t need membership register to hold a general election.
‘You don’t, because not every Nigerian must belong to political parties, but every Nigerian is authorized by law to go and vote. All you need is your own voters register to hold the election.
Now you may ask, what is the essence of the party register? It is just to make sure that because when you have direct primaries, all the members of the party will be involved, which is a very wicked provision that the National Assembly has inserted in the Electoral Act. They know the reason they did it. They did it mainly to harm opposition parties because they made a provision that it’s either you decide by consensus or by direct primaries.
What is wrong with indirect primaries? We have argued over and over again that there is nothing wrong with indirect primaries and there’s nothing wrong with direct primaries, but direct primaries are almost like going for a major election, because what it means is that all around the country, you will conduct votes.”
