A caucus of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to disregard the “purported notice” of congress.
The National Secretary, Mr Oginni Sunday, who belongs to the NNPP faction loyal to its Founder and Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Dr Boniface Aniebonam, made the call while addressing a news conference in Abuja over the weekend.
Sunday said that the proposed convention letter, which was signed on behalf of Rabiu Kwankwaso-led movement, which he described as a pressure group within the party, was an affront to the FCT High Court judgment delivered on April 3.
He said that drawing from the recent High Court judgment on suit No. FCT/HC/CV/5518/2024, the two signatories to the letter, Dr Ahmed Ajuji and Dipo Olayoku, were “meddlesome interlopers” on the NNPP matter.
He said that the judgment of the FCT High Court had long settled the issue of the proposed convention.
“Permit me to use this medium to make it known to Nigerians and the international community that Ajuji and his factional group instituted a case in the High Court of FCT on Dec. 16, 2024, to stop the lawful Congress and convention of NNPP initiated by Aniebonam, led by NNPP BoT.
“This judgment of stopping the lawful convention was delivered by the Abia State High Court on November 1, 2024, with Suit No. HUZ/11/2024.
“It is also a statement of fact that the FCT High Court, in a judgment delivered by His Lordship, Justice Hassan, on April 3, dismissed the case instituted by the Ajuji-led faction group of Kwankwaso against Aniebonam-led NNPP.
“Consequently, the Ajuji-led group, by the effect of the FCT Court judgment of April 3, are the judgment’s debtors while Chief Aniebonam led NNPP becomes the judgment’s creditors,” Sunday said.
He stated that it was, therefore, shocking and unbelievable that despite the fact that the judgment was never appealed against, Ajuji and Olayoku had the effrontery to write to INEC to conduct an illegal fresh convention and congress.
Sunday described the action as total defiance of the December 2024 and January 2025 valid congress and convention of Aniebonam-led executives of NNPP, who were the judgment’s creditors.
He said that a letter had been submitted to INEC to distance itself from the Congress, hoping that the commission would act swiftly.
Recall that on April 3, Justice Hassan dismissed a suit filed by a faction loyal to Kwankwaso, which sought to challenge the legitimacy of the party’s current leadership under Aniebonam and National Chairman, Dr Agbo Major.
The case, filed by Ajuji and 20 others, aimed to invalidate the authority of the NNPP’s Board of Trustees and its executive leadership, including NNPP factional National Secretary, Oginni Olaposi; Deputy National Chairman, Chief Felix Chukwurah; and legal practitioner, Tony Obioha.
The claimants had asked the court to restrain these officials from convening meetings, conducting congresses, or presiding over the party’s national convention, arguing that they had been expelled from the NNPP.
However, Justice Hassan ruled that the court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the suit, affirming that internal party disputes—such as leadership and membership issues—are beyond judicial intervention.
