The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has formally escalated its internal leadership dispute to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), urging the electoral body to stop engaging with what it described as a rival faction not backed by existing court judgments.
The party insisted that all official communication, electoral access, and nomination privileges should be restricted strictly to its legally recognised leadership structure.
In a petition submitted at the weekend in Lagos and addressed to the INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, with the Director of Litigation copied, the NNPP maintained that recent developments around its leadership crisis have already been settled by courts.
The letter, titled “Forwarding of Subsisting Judgments and Court Orders on the Leadership of NNPP”, was signed by its solicitors, Rex Firma LP, and circulated to journalists.
The party specifically asked INEC to halt any form of engagement with the faction associated with Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, as well as Dr Ajuji Ahmed and representatives of the Kwankwasiyya Movement.
It argued that such interactions were contrary to subsisting judicial pronouncements that define the legitimate leadership of the party.
According to the legal team, INEC should not issue any electoral credentials, portal access codes, nomination authorisations, or any form of candidate-upload privileges to individuals or groups not recognised by the courts.
They stressed that such rights must remain exclusively within the control of the recognised leadership under the supervision of Dr Boniface Aniebonam, who they described as the party’s founder and Board of Trustees chairman.
The solicitors further demanded that all electoral correspondence relating to the NNPP be directed only to the recognised National Working Committee and leadership structure affirmed by the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory and the Court of Appeal, Owerri.
They insisted that any communication outside this framework should be disregarded by the commission.
“We demand that all electoral communications, and related privileges concerning the NNPP be restricted exclusively to the duly recognised leadership affirmed by judgments of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory and the Court of Appeal, Owerri.”
They also warned INEC against taking any action that could be interpreted as recognising the disputed faction, stressing that doing so would undermine ongoing enforcement of court decisions. The party maintained that all relevant judicial pronouncements remain valid, binding, and unchallenged at the apex level.
The letter also urged the commission to circulate the court orders to all departments handling party administration and candidate nomination processes to avoid further confusion ahead of future electoral activities.
“We consider it necessary to remind the commissioners that by virtue of Section 287 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), all authorities and persons are under a constitutional obligation to give effect to decisions of courts of competent jurisdiction.”
The NNPP further argued that since INEC did not appeal the earlier judgments, it is fully bound to comply with them. It maintained that continued engagement with any other faction would amount to disregarding the authority of the courts.
