By John Azu
A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to generate and release the registration access code for the All Democratic Alliance (ADA) to the leadership led by its protem National Chairman, Akin Ricket.
Delivering judgment on Monday, Justice Peter Lifu directed INEC to release the access code to the association’s protem secretary within 72 hours.
The judge held that the electoral commission acted unlawfully by issuing the access code to Umar Ardo, who was not the recognized protem secretary of the association, declaring the action “illegal, wrongful, null and void.”
Justice Lifu further ordered INEC to reopen its registration portal for one week to enable the plaintiff upload all required documents, including the association’s membership register, in compliance with the provisions of the law.
Ricket, through his counsel, Stephen Atabo, had approached the court after INEC allegedly refused to issue him the access code required to upload the documents and information necessary for the registration of ADA as a political party.
In the suit, the ADA leadership also sought “a declaration that INEC was in violation of the extant laws when it issued the access code to the second defendant, Ardo, who is neither the protem national chairman nor the secretary of the association, instead of” the plaintiff.
The plaintiff further urged the court to declare that “the information uploaded into INEC’s portal by a wrongful person, or Umar Ardo on behalf of ADA, was in violation of the extant laws, as it was at variance with the information in the plaintiff’s letter of intent and should therefore be declared illegal, unlawful, null and void and of no effect.”
Justice Lifu granted the reliefs, ruling that INEC must issue a fresh access code to the recognized leadership of the association and provide the opportunity for the completion of the registration process in accordance with the law.