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INEC defends presence at AD convention
LEADERS of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) have continued to defend or criticise the party's unity convention held in Lagos on Wednesday.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has, however, defended its presence at the event.
The leader of INEC's team to the convention and director-in-charge of political parties, Dr. Ishmael Igbani, said the electoral body attended the convention because there was no court injunction barring the exercise.
Former Osun State governor, Chief Adebisi Akande was elected as the national chairman of the AD at the convention.
But factional chairman, Chief Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa has described the convention as "a charade and an Abiku" (meaning stillborn in Yoruba).
Akinfenwa, who is backed by the pan-Yoruba group, Afenifere had said he submitted a copy of a court order stopping the convention at the INEC headquarters in Abuja.
Igbani, however, denied the claim and insisted that INEC has a responsibility to ensure that the AD resolves its crisis in the interest of democracy.
He said that the report of the convention would be submitted to the commission for deliberations on Monday.
The Guardian learnt that INEC may give its nod to the convention following the decision of six of the 10 members of Akinfenwa's group to serve in the AD national convention committee, which conducted the exercise.
In a statement, the national publicity secretary of the Akinfenwa faction, Mr. Rafiu Salau, described the INEC action as illegal in view of the pending suit in court in respect of the parallel convention held in Lagos and Abuja last year.
But the AD director of publicity, Mr. Dayo Adeyeye, has said the success of the convention was a victory for the party.
His words: "You can see the people that turned up for the convention. Senator Akinfenwa has no root in the AD. Even those who claim to be Afenifere that are opposed to the convention have lost political relevance", he said.
"With the successful hosting of the convention by the joint NCC of both factions", INEC, Adeyeye said, has "no option than to endorse Akande as the new national chairman of AD."
Besides, he noted that the decision of Osun State government to open the case of the N127 million using the police against Akande on the day of the convention is an indication that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is promoting the crisis in AD and bent on denting the image of the former governor.
Meanwhile, the crisis in Afenifere in relation to AD convention deepened yesterday.
In a statement, Mr. Yinka Odumakin described the Ijebu-Igbo meeting chaired by Chief Rueben Fasoranti, which backed Akinfenwa as null and not binding on the` members.
He also congratulated the AD for successfully holding the convention. Fasoranti however said that Odumakin would be sanctioned for acting as a spoiler in the group.
He told The Guardian yesterday that Odumakin as an employee of Afenifere has no right to issue any statement without his approval as the acting leader of Afenifere.
Reacting to the Lagos convention in Osogbo, Akinfenwa noted that the forum was a mockery of the judicial system and the democratic process. In a statement, Akinfenwa regretted that the "money spent on it could have been used for the benefit of the poor who have no hope of what next to eat."
"Rather than use such money on a worthy course, they expended it on pricing, buying and wooing all sorts of people masquerading as delegates to their Lagos so-called convention. All being that as it may, it is an exercise in futility.
"The show in Lagos has no backing of our party's constitution. That INEC suggested four options out of which the Lagos group picked one does not make the show valid.
"INEC did not say a group of AD should conduct a new convention and for as long as I, together with the great majority of the members of AD across the nation were not involved in the charade, it remains invalid", he said.
Akinfenwa said that what was produced from the "Lagos gathering is a stillborn (Abiku) mid-wifed by Chief Michael Koleoso, an incompetent nurse. Nothing has changed as it was from December 16, 2003."
He urged Nigerians to ignore the Lagos group as there was a pending case before "a competent court, which has ruled since July 29, 2004 that the status quo ante should be maintained until the final disposition of the suit before it.
"Anything to the contrary is against the law of the land and it is therefore illegal. The hurry exhibited by the Lagos group is borne out of desperation and is bound to fail", he said.
The former AD leader in the Senate urged his supporters to remain calm and wait for further developments on the matter.
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