The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has urged the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Chief Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), to intervene in the party’s leadership crisis.
The party also urged Fagbemi to advise the new INEC chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan on getting the commission to obey Court directives in recognising the NNPP National/State Executives.
The NNPP National Secretary, Dr Sunday Olaposi, who belongs to the NNPP faction loyal to its Founder and Chairman Board of Trustees , Dr Boniface Aniebonam, made the call at a news conference in Abuja on Tuesday .
Olaposi urged the AGF to advise the new INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan to urgently comply with a subsisting court judgment on the party’s authentic national executives.
He said the appeal was necessary due to the continuous failure of the electoral umpire to upload the names of the legitimate national and state officers on its official website, despite a court ruling.
Recounting the legal history, Olaposi noted that a group loyal to the NNPP 2023 presidential candidate, Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso, led by Dr Ahmed Ajuji, had approached the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Dec. 16, 2024 on the leadership issue.
He said the Ajuji-led faction sought to challenge and stop the legitimate congresses and convention of the NNPP, which was overseen by the party’s founder.
He said that while the Ajuji-led NNPP were the plaintiffs in the matter, the Aniebonam-led NNPP were the defendants.
Olaposi said that after three months of legal contention, the FCT High Court, in a judgment delivered by Justice M.A. Hassan on April 3, 2025 (Suit No. FCT/HC/CV/5518/2024), dismissed the case instituted by the Kwankwaso group.
He, however, expressed disappointment that the immediate past INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, allegedly “declined to update the records of NNPP national and state executives in accordance with the FCT judgment.
This,according to him, was even after valid congresses and convention had been duly concluded and results submitted to the commission.
Olaposi said that following the confirmation of Amupitan by the Senate as INEC chairman, NNPP on Oct. 16, submitted a letter to the office of the AGF, officially seeking his urgent intervention regarding INEC’s non-compliance with the FCT High Court judgment on the party’s leadership.
“We strongly believe in the impeccable records and integrity of Fagbemi, the Chief Law Officer and AGF and the capacity of his good office to advise INEC and other government related agencies on the need for total obedience to the rule of law,” he said.
Olaposi said the NNPP also strongly believe that Amupitan would surely walk the talk in accordance with his promise on the floor of the senate to right any perceived wrong by the commission .
“To sustain our enduring democracy, total adherence to the rule of law is very germaine, and we must not continue this way any longer,” he said.
