COURTROOM NEWS 23/12/2022
Court Again Rejects Abacha’s CSO Al-Mustapha as AA Presidential Candidate
The Federal High Court in Abuja has rejected an application to set aside its November 4 judgment recognising the candidates produced by the Dr Adekunle Rufai Omo-Aje leadership of the Action Alliance (AA) party.
The court had on November 4 ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to accept the candidates submitted for next year’s general elections by the Omo-Aje leadership of the AA and to reject those produced by Kenneth Udeze, among whom is Major Hamzat Al-Mustpha (retired).
In a ruling on Thursday, Justice Zainab Abubakar held that the application filed by Udeze (who was sacked as Chairman of the party) was unmeritorious and proceeded to dismiss it.
Udeze, whose suspension and expulsion as the AA Chairman had been upheld in two judgments of the Court of Appeal, had applied to the Federal High Court, Abuja to set aside the November 4, 2022 judgment, claiming it was obtained by fraud and that he was still the party’s National Chairman.
In the November 4 judgment (which was also delivered by Justice Abubakar), the court ordered INEC to accept the list of candidates submitted to it by the Omo-Aje leadership of the AA and to discountenance the candidates submitted by Udeze, which Major Hamzat Al-Mustpha, as presidential candidate.
In her ruling on Thursday, Justice Abubakar noted that, with the two subsisting judgments of the Court of Appeal and another decision by a Federal High Court in Abeokuta, Udeze cannot lawfully lay claim to being the Chairman of the party.
The two judgments of the Court of Appeal were delivered on January 7 and November 11 while the ruling by the Federal High Court in Abeokuta was delivered on September 8 2022 by Justice J. O. Abdulmalik in a suit marked: FHC/AB/CS/120/2022.
Justice Abubakar held that her earlier judgment delivered on November 4 was not obtained by fraud as claimed by Udeze.
The judge described Udeze as a busybody and meddlesome interloper, trying to interfere in the affairs of the party from which he was suspended and later expelled.
