The Accord Party has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to dismiss a suit filed by its National Secretary, Adebukola Ajaja, challenging the submission of the party’s candidates for the 2027 general elections.
The party described the suit as invalid, filed too late and brought before the court too early. It argued that the case should not be heard.
Ajaja had approached the court to challenge the decision of the party’s National Chairman, Maxwell Mgbudem, and National Organising Secretary, Ibe Kenechukwu ThankGod, to sign and submit the party’s candidates’ documents to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) without her involvement.
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2524/2026, filed on October 21, 2026, Ajaja argued that the party’s constitution and the Electoral Act, 2026, required the national chairman and national secretary to jointly sign and submit the candidates’ nomination documents.
She asked the court to cancel the documents, including Forms EC9(A), EC9(B), EC9(C), EC9(D) and EC9(E), which were signed by the chairman and the national organising secretary.
However, Accord, through its lawyer, Musibau Adetunbi (SAN), has challenged the case, insisting that it cannot stand in court.
The party argued that Ajaja filed the suit outside the 14 days allowed by law. It also claimed that the issue was an internal matter of the party and that the court should not interfere.
Accord further questioned Ajaja’s right to bring the case, saying she was not among those who contested the party’s primary election held on May 29, 2026.
The party also argued that the case was defective because the candidates whose nominations Ajaja wants the court to cancel were not joined in the suit. According to Accord, the candidates should be given the chance to defend their nominations.
It also claimed that Ajaja failed to serve the party with a 21-day notice before filing the case.
Defending its action, Accord said its primary election was conducted according to the law and that INEC had accepted the list of candidates produced from the exercise.
The party maintained that its national chairman and national organising secretary had the authority to sign and submit the candidates’ documents without the national secretary.
It relied on Article 18 of its constitution and relevant sections of INEC’s guidelines to support its position.
Accord stated that neither its constitution nor INEC’s guidelines clearly required Ajaja to sign the forwarding letter. It added that the party’s national executives had approved the decision for the chairman and organising secretary to sign the documents together.
The party also cited a Supreme Court judgment in Jegede v. INEC, arguing that the national chairman’s signature alone would have been enough to support the submission.
In a separate counter-affidavit, Mgbudem accused Ajaja of abandoning her duties as national secretary.
He claimed that she had stopped attending meetings of the National Working Committee and had missed three meetings in a row.
The chairman also alleged that Ajaja had failed to handle some of her responsibilities properly. He questioned her claims about the number of court cases arising from the party’s primary election, saying at least 16 cases had been filed.
Mgbudem described himself as the party’s Chief Executive and said Article 18(1) of the Accord constitution gave him the power to sign documents on behalf of the party and assign duties to other officers.
He further disclosed that the National Working Committee, at a meeting held on May 24, 2026, had approved that he and the National Organising Secretary should jointly sign the letter forwarding the names of the party’s successful candidates to INEC.
According to him, the party later submitted the candidates’ names electronically after its primary elections, except for the presidential ticket, which it did not contest.
He explained that the electronic submission process did not require every document to carry a physical signature, considering the large number of political parties and candidates taking part in the 2027 elections.
The court will now have to consider the party’s objections and Ajaja’s claims over who has the authority to sign and submit Accord’s candidates’ nomination documents.
No comments:
Post a Comment