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The leadership crisis rocking the Action Alliance (AA) is far from over, as the faction led by Kenneth Udeze has resolved to appeal a Federal High Court ruling in Abuja that declined to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to release the access code for uploading the names of its candidates for the 2027 general elections.
The National Executive Committee of the faction took the decision after Justice Inyang Ekwo struck out the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1377/2026 (Action Alliance & 5 Ors v INEC), for want of jurisdiction.
Udeze, suing in the name of the party, had sought, among other reliefs, an order directing INEC to give his faction the access code to enable it to upload the particulars of candidates who emerged from its primaries, in view of the judgments of the Court of Appeal.
The faction also asked the court to determine whether INEC could accept and upload nominations from a rival faction, given the Court of Appeal judgment affirming Udeze’s leadership.
In his ruling, Justice Ekwo identified three issues for determination. On whether the plaintiffs proved that INEC disobeyed any court order, he held that they failed to identify the specific judgment the commission allegedly flouted.
On the second issue, the judge held that the plaintiffs were effectively inviting the court to sit on appeal over decisions of higher courts and courts of coordinate jurisdiction, which had been reached on the basis of the party’s constitution.
Granting the request, he said, would amount to reviewing those decisions, a power the court does not have.
On the third issue, he held that an originating summons, under the Rules of Court, is used to construe deeds and wills, not to interpret judgments.
He therefore ruled that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain a case seeking the interpretation of judgments by that procedure. The court added that it is not the forum for parties to resolve their internal disputes.
Reacting, the plaintiffs’ counsel, Madeh Yakubu, commended the judge’s reasoning but indicated that the party would obtain a certified true copy of the ruling, study it and possibly proceed on appeal.
Udeze, who spoke to journalists, insisted that he remained the authentic national chairman of the party and that candidates nominated by his leadership would contest the 2027 elections.
He maintained that INEC had no power to accept nominations from any other group, citing the 2025 Court of Appeal judgment which recognised his leadership.
He said that after a careful study of the ruling, he might return to the Court of Appeal for a definitive pronouncement on which leadership is legally empowered to nominate candidates for the polls.
Also in his reaction, counsel to Aare Adekunle Rufai Omo-Aje, Ayibiowu Doland, explained that the plaintiffs, who were not the persons recognised by law and INEC as having standing to act on behalf of the party, sued in the name of the party seeking among other reliefs, an order directing INEC to give his faction the access code to enable it to upload the particulars of candidates who emerged from its primaries.
Doland said ” with the ruling, Are Adekunle Rufai Omo-Aje remains the presidential candidate of the Action Alliance, describing as a victory for democracy and the rule of law.”
Udeze and one Adekunle Rufai Omaje have been locked in a fierce legal battle over the leadership of the party for years.
