The Coalition of United Political Parties, CUPP, on Tuesday, August 18, 2020, took a swipe at the Independent National Election Commission, INEC, chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, over his reluctant to re-list some political parties as ordered by the Court of Appeal.
The CUPP, in a statement by Olusegun Peters, its chairman, Contact and Mobilization and Member, Steering Committee, in Abuja, however, advised the electoral empire to perish the thought of embarking on any futile voyage of appealing the judgment.
Accusing Prof. Yakubu of disobeying the Appeal Court judgment to re-list political parties he deregistered on February 6, this year, the CUPP also called on the National Assembly to include INEC in the ongoing probe of ministries and other government agencies.
The umbrella body of opposition political parties insisted that INEC must account for Nigerians how it spent billions of Naira allotted to it to conduct the contentious 2019 general election.
Accusing INEC of fragrant disobeying Appeal Court order, Rev. Peters urged the Commission to stop further wasting of taxpayers money to appeal the court order.
According to him, “CUPP urges the independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to promptly obey various court judgments including the recent Court of Appeal judgment that ordered it to re-list 23 political parties the commission deregistered on 6th February 2020, instead of wasting taxpayers funds on appealing the judgment.
“The five-man panel led by the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem in its unanimous judgment voided the deregistration of the parties declaring that, “A Constitutional violation, particularly by public or statutory authority, should not be allowed to survive even for a second for any reason.”
“It is this unambiguous judgment of the Court of Appeal that INEC wanted to rush and appeal forgetting that it is heavily funded by Nigerians who are already overtaxed and crying for tax reliefs and palliatives from government amidst COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and economic hardship.
“CUPP calls on INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu to comply immediately to the order of court by re-listing the affected political parties in the interest of the nation and sustainable democracy in Nigeria.
“The era of impunity is gone. As a responsible government agency, if INEC wants to appeal, it should first obey a clear judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction.
“This is the essence of the rule of law and social justice as provided in the 1999 Constitution as amended and the Electoral Act 2010 as amended. Anything short of this is justice juxtaposed and unacceptable.
“CUPP calls on the National Assembly to probe INEC in its ongoing investigations of government ministries and agencies. INEC should account for Nigerians how it spent billions of Naira allotted to it to conduct the contentious 2019 general election.
“It is evident that the commission has been reckless in spending huge funds on unnecessary appeals instead of obeying court judgments.”
Source: Vanguard
