Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Action Alliance has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission and its Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, of wilful disobedience of binding court judgments, demanding that the commission immediately recognise Chief Barrister Kenneth Udeze as the party's national chairman or face contempt proceedings. The party's counsel and the Udeze-led National Executive Committee issued the demand in letters addressed to Amupitan and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Chief Lateef Fagbemi, copies of which were obtained by SaharaReporters on Sunday, September 13, 2026.
Udeze told SaharaReporters that INEC's continued refusal to recognise the leadership affirmed by the Court of Appeal could affect the participation of Action Alliance and its candidates in the 2027 general elections. He warned that any attempt to prevent the party's candidates from contesting would result in extensive post-election litigation, saying the party would not fold its hands while its rights were trampled upon. The dispute centres on competing claims over the leadership of Action Alliance and the authority to nominate candidates on behalf of the party. The Udeze-led faction relies on a series of Court of Appeal decisions which it says have repeatedly affirmed his position as national chairman, including a January 2024 judgment dismissing an appeal by the Omoaje camp, a September 2024 judgment affirming him as national chairman, a November 2024 ruling in a related suit, an April 2026 ruling from the Makurdi Judicial Division, and a July 2026 ruling dismissing an application by the Omoaje faction.
The party argued that INEC's refusal to implement the judgments contravened Section 287(2) of the 1999 Constitution, which requires all authorities and persons to conform to decisions of superior courts. In a letter dated August 10, 2026, addressed to the Attorney-General, the party accused Amupitan of "willful disobedience" of binding judgments and asked Fagbemi to intervene and compel INEC to comply. The party said INEC had been formally notified of the judgments through letters dated July 22 and August 4, 2026, but had failed to implement them, instead proceeding to recognise or publish persons who were not nominated by the Udeze-led leadership, including in its publication of presidential candidates for the 2027 elections.
The rival faction led by Adekunle Rufai Omoaje has disputed Udeze's account of the leadership dispute. Omoaje has previously said his faction's National Think Tank committee, which he described as the party's highest decision-making organ, suspended and later expelled Udeze, a position he said courts had upheld in cases Udeze himself brought. Omoaje had also called for an investigation into Udeze over allegations of impersonation relating to party membership records presented before the courts. INEC, for its part, has previously stated it could not list Omoaje as chairman while the Court of Appeal judgment recognising Udeze remained subsisting, though the party has separately accused the commission of inconsistency in how it has treated the matter.
The dispute has been running for more than two years, with the Court of Appeal's Abuja Division repeatedly ruling in Udeze's favour. In the July 2026 ruling, the appellate court described an application by the Omoaje camp as an abuse of court process. The Action Alliance has now given INEC a clear ultimatum: comply with the judgments or face contempt proceedings. The party's legal team has written to INEC in May and July 2026, attaching certified copies of the judgments and demanding that the commission reinstate the Udeze-led leadership's details on its website, but INEC had neither responded nor acted more than two months later. Udeze questioned how a professor of law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria who heads INEC could justify disobedience of valid, subsisting and binding judgments of the Court of Appeal, warning that the credibility of the 2027 elections would be undermined if the commission continued to flout the law. As Nigeria inches closer to the 2027 general elections, the standoff between the Action Alliance and INEC has become a critical test of the commission's commitment to the rule of law and the integrity of the electoral process.
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