Court orders INEC to recognise Edozie Njoku-led NRM’s leadership

The emergency convention, convened to fill vacant positions in the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) and address imbalances in its composition, resulted in the election of Edozie Njoku as NRM’s National Chairman.

Delivering judgment, Justice Obiora Egwuatu faulted INEC’s position and directed the electoral body to recognise and accept Chief Edozie Njoku’s leadership.

The court held that there was clear evidence that NRM had duly notified INEC of its emergency convention. Justice Egwuatu ruled that INEC was legally obligated to monitor the exercise and had acted wrongly by failing to do so.

He further stated that since NRM’s notice complied with the statutory 21-day requirement, INEC had no justification for refusing to observe the convention.

“I am convinced that the NRM has effectively made out a case warranting the grant of the reliefs sought,” Justice Egwuatu affirmed.

The court declared that INEC, as the respondent, had a constitutional duty to acknowledge and monitor the emergency convention held to fill vacant positions and rectify NEC’s structural imbalance.

Furthermore, the judge ruled that INEC’s failure to perform this duty was a breach of Sections 82(1) and 83(1) of the Electoral Act, 2022, rendering its actions unconstitutional and unlawful.

Consequently, an order of mandamus was issued, compelling INEC to “accept and monitor the emergency convention of the applicant, fill the vacancies, correct the NEC’s imbalance, and recognise the decisions or outcomes of the convention.”

Reacting to the ruling, NRM’s National Chairman, Chief Edozie Njoku, urged INEC to comply with the court’s directive.

“Today, it has been made abundantly clear that everything that transpired at our emergency national convention on 17 January, including the constitutional amendments, is legal and binding on INEC,” he stated.

“We are appealing to INEC to accept the order of mandamus imposed by the court and immediately recognise our leadership,” Njoku added.