I still can’t understand why the Professor Mahmood Yakubu-led Independent National Electoral Commission has refused to do business with the Esther Nenadi-Usman-led Caretaker Committee of the Labour Party. There is no ambiguity in the Supreme Court judgment delivered on April 4 which cleared all issues on the legitimate headship of the party. This is the highest court in our land. Any new court action by anybody can’t change this ruling. So, Nenadi-Usman is clearly the legitimate Interim National Chairman of the LP.
But Professor Yakubu has so far refused to give full effect to the Supreme Court judgement. INEC has refused to update its official portal and other platforms to reflect the correct leadership of the LP. Yakubu refused to invite Nenadi-Usman to a recent meeting INEC had with other political party chairmen. When INEC recently threw out the list of candidates for the August 16 national bye-elections and local council elections submitted by Julius Abure and his group, I thought that submitted by Nenadi-Usman would be accepted by INEC and published. It is clearly a valid list of candidates submitted by the legitimate LP leadership. It did not happen. Yakubu snubbed Nenadi-Usman’s list. What the hell is the problem with Yakubu?
I spent quality time yesterday reviewing the Supreme Court judgment on the LP leadership crisis to see if there is any haziness in it, warranting the unending drivel by Yakubu and his jaga jaga INEC. I could not find any. The Supreme Court clearly gave it to the Nenadi Usman-led National Caretaker Committee. The released CTC clearly ended the misinterpretation of the verdict. It simply affirms that the LP September 2024 National Convention in Umuahia, which unanimously elected a 29-man caretaker committee, is valid.
I find some sections of the Supreme Court judgement instructive. The justices ruled: “The same issue submitted for determination is hereby jointly in favour of the appellants. And the appellants are Senator Esther Nenadi Usman and Senator Darlington Nwokocha. In summary, both the trial courts and the one below, have no jurisdiction to entertain the first respondent, Julius Abure.
“Consequent upon the foregoing, the decisions of both trial courts and the one below in recognising Julius Abure as the national chairman of the party is hereby set aside and struck out for want of jurisdiction. In the vein, the first respondent’s cross-appeal, being an offshoot of the same judgment of the courts below, is hereby dismissed.”
Yakubu and his INEC should obey this judgement and start doing business with Nenadi-Usman. He must give full effect to the Supreme Court ruling. There is no haziness here. The INEC Chairman must stop behaving as if he has a mandate to destroy opposition parties. If Yakubu truly wants the survival of our democracy, he must ensure that INEC (as a responsible electoral umpire it claims to be) obeys the ruling. This is the only way forward. As a first step, INEC must accept and publish the list submitted by Nenadi-Usman-led Caretaker Committee for the August 16 national bye-elections.