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Akinfenwa faction declares
AD convention illegal
By Adetutu Folasade-Koyi,
Abuja and
Gbenga Faturoti,
Osogbo
The Senator Mojisoluwa
Akinfenwa faction of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) has declared
Wednesday�s convention of the party as illegal, and accused the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of being a biased umpire
contravening section 75(1) of the Electoral Act.
Also, relying on the support
he enjoyed from the Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, the
factional leader, Senator Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa described the purported
Unity Convention as a ruse.
Reacting to the purported
election of former governor of Osun State, Chief Adebisi Akande as the new
AD leader, Akinfenwa said in a statement in Osogbo that the convention was
a mockery of the judicial system and democratic norms.
He said the exercise has no
legal backing because the matter is still before a federal High Court. He
enjoined Nigerians to shun the Lagos group as there was a case before a
court which has ruled since July 29, 2004 that status
qua should be
maintained until the case is determined by it.
Akinfenwa who expressed
optimism that the ruling of the court would favour him, maintained that
there was no justification for conducting fresh convention adding that it
was an exercise in futility. He also cautioned all the products of the
Lagos convention not to parade themselves as leaders of the party until
the final disposition of the suit in the court. Akinfenwa then urged his
supporters to remain calm, be law abiding and await further development on
the matter.
�The show in Lagos has no
backing of our party�s constitution. That the Independent National
electoral Commission (INEC) suggested four options out of which the Lagos
group picked one does not make the show valid�.
�INEC did not say a group in
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 was not involved in
the charade, it remains invalid�, he said.
And in a separate statement in
Abuja, the faction�s national publicity secretary, Rafiu Salau, said that
the convention was held in the absence of a constituted National Executive
Council (NEC) and in contempt of a court order.
He said: �INEC made a mistake
to have suggested a convention as one of the options for resolving the
crisis when it was aware that only a recognised NEC of the party could
only convene a convention in line with the party constitution. Also, it is
a blunder to have been an observer at the factional convention that was
not in line with the constitution.
�As long as the INEC, the
custodian of the party convention, refused to recognise any of the two
factions, they should know better that the party couldn�t convene a
convention.
As a matter of fact, it is not
possible to build something on nothing. Surprisingly, INEC insisted that
one of the options for resolving the crises is a new convention. But they
have not told us how to convene a convention in line with the party�s
constitution without a recognised NEC. To impose a convention that is in
line with the constitution on the party, without a recognised NEC, is like
asking a man to go to heaven yet he must die.
Salau argued that by allowing
Wednesday�s convention to hold, INEC breached its earlier directive that
the party should hold its convention before October 30, 2004, by which
time the NEC would have been constituted, in line with the Electoral
Act.
�INEC should accept that their
ultimatum that a convention in line with the party�s constitution before
October 30, 2004 cannot be achieved until we have a NEC recognised by the
electoral body 21 days before the deadline in order to conform with
section 75(1) of the Electoral Act, which states that a party must notify
INEC 21 days before the day of convention�.
�To resolve the crisis, the
other option that the INEC can adopt is the option three, which states
that it will recognise any faction that substantially comply with the
party constitution. In the absence of all the options, the court of law
will be the final arbiter of which we have instituted a case against INEC
at Federal High Court Lagos for the recognition of the 2003 Abuja
convention�, said Salau.
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