Supreme Court Ruling Not Setback For ADC — Lawyer

A constitutional lawyer, Fred Nzeako, has said the Supreme Court ruling referring the leadership dispute in the African Democratic Congress (ADC) back to the Federal High Court is not a setback for the party.

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The Supreme Court had annulled the ruling of the Court of Appeal, which led to the de-recognition of Senator David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The apex court referred the case back to the Federal High Court for determination.

Speaking on Arise News, Nzeako said the decision of the Supreme Court did not put the ADC in a difficult position.

He said, “I don’t think the Supreme Court asking them to go back to the Federal High Court is a setback.

“I’ll tell you how it is not. As we speak, there’s leadership of ADC headed by David Mark. There is no court pronouncement disqualifying their position. They have been elected by the NEC of the party.

“ADC has leadership, and that leadership is headed by Senator David Mark. Why I say they are not in a tight corner is that the matter in court can be going on.”

Nzeako also cautioned INEC against refusing to deal with the David Mark-led leadership of the party.

He said, “That’s why I warned INEC about their future actions. They have no reason not to interact with David Mark leadership.

“The law says, give notice. Once you have given that notice of 21 days, which they copiously did, whether INEC observes or not, is their business, they must not, and whether they observe or not does not nullify the convention.

“They have to satisfy the provisions of the law. It is now left to INEC to accept it only to observe or not observe.”

The lawyer also addressed concerns over INEC’s May 10 deadline for political parties to submit membership registers.

He said the register was not required for the conduct of general elections.

Nzeako said, “One of the major things that 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 a membership register to conduct a general election.

“You don’t, because not every Nigerian must belong to political parties, but every Nigerian is authorised by law to go and vote. All you need is to have your own voters register to conduct the election.”

Nzeako Faults Direct Primary Provision

He said party membership registers were mainly relevant to the conduct of direct primaries.

According to him, the provision for direct primaries in the Electoral Act could hurt opposition parties.

He said, “You can now ask, what is the essence of the party register? It is only to ensure that, because when you conduct direct primaries, all 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 why they did it.

“They did it primarily to harm the opposition parties because they made a provision that it is either you decide by consensus or by direct primaries.

“What is wrong with indirect primaries? We have argued this 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.”