INEC: Stop Wasting Tax Payers’ Funds On Appeal Over Deregistration-CUPP.

… Urges NASS To Probe INEC

The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) has cautioned the lndependent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to promptly obey various court judgments including the recent Court of Appeal judgment that ordered it to re-list 22 political parties the commission deregistered on 6th February 2020, instead of wasting tax payers’ 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.”

The CUPP in a press statement signed by its Chairman, Contact and Mobilization and Member, Steering Committee, Rev. Olusegun Peters, said:  “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 over taxed and crying for tax reliefs and palliatives from government amidst COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and economic hardship”.

In view of this development the 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 Coalition noted that the era of impunity was gone. Stating that “As a responsible government agency, if INEC wants to appeal, it should first obey a clear judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction, CUPP stressed “ 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”.

The CUPP also, calls on the National Assembly to probe INEC in its ongoing investigations of government ministries and agencies. INEC should account to 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.