By Nkechi Eze
The leadership of the Action Alliance (AA) has dismissed as fraudulent a judgment recently obtained by one Adekunle Rufai Omoaje and his associates from the Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo, purportedly affirming them as the authentic leaders of the party. The party declared that the ruling stands against valid and subsisting judgments of superior courts which have consistently recognized Chief Barrister Kenneth Udeze and the National Executive Committee (NEC) under his leadership as the legitimate authority of the Action Alliance.
In a statement signed by the National Secretary of the party, Vernimbe A. James, the leadership said the issue of who is the authentic National Chairman of Action Alliance has long been settled by several court judgments in favour of the Udeze-led NEC. These include rulings of the FCT High Court, the Federal High Court in Abuja, and the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, all of which affirmed Udeze’s position as National Chairman.
The statement listed the FCT High Court judgment of March 28, 2022 delivered by Justice Eleojo Enenche, the Federal High Court judgments of July 19 and September 24, 2024 delivered by Justices Emeka Nwite and Joyce O. Abdulmalik respectively, as well as three separate judgments of the Court of Appeal delivered between January and November 2024 by panels led by Justices Hamma Akawu Barka, Cordelia Ifeoma Jombo-Ofo, and Abba Bello Mohammed. All these, the party stressed, conclusively affirmed the legitimacy of the Kenneth Udeze-led national leadership of Action Alliance.
The party accused Omoaje of repeatedly losing in Abuja courts before embarking on what it described as “forum shopping,” by secretly filing a fresh suit in Osogbo against only the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), using the name of Action Alliance without the consent or approval of its authentic leadership. The party further alleged that Omoaje deliberately suppressed material facts about the subsisting judgments in favour of Udeze in order to mislead the Osogbo court into granting the order.
Action Alliance emphasized that the hierarchy of courts in Nigeria does not permit a Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo to upturn decisions of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which had already settled the leadership dispute in favour of Udeze. It also noted that Omoaje already has a pending appeal at the Supreme Court, Appeal No. SC/CV/162/2024, and should have awaited its determination instead of running to another Federal High Court division for relief.
The party urged the Independent National Electoral Commission to disregard the Osogbo ruling and continue its recognition of the Kenneth Udeze-led NEC based on existing appellate judgments. It also appealed to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court to direct the transfer of all Action Alliance-related matters filed by Omoaje in different divisions of the court to Abuja, in order to prevent conflicting rulings on the same issue.
While calling on its members across Nigeria and in the diaspora to remain calm and law-abiding, the Udeze-led leadership assured that its legal team has been directed to take immediate steps to vacate what it described as a fraudulent judgment. “The National Chairman, Chief Barr. Kenneth Udeze, remains the authentic leader of the Action Alliance, as repeatedly affirmed by competent courts of law. No amount of forum shopping can alter this reality,” the statement declared.
