Finally INEC recognizes Omoaje as National Chairman of Action Alliance

From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

The National leadership crisis rocking the Action Alliance (AA) might have finally been laid to rest as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has given recognition to Hon Adekunle Rufai Omoaje as the authentic National chairman of the Party.
This was contained in a statement made available to the media in Kaduna on Thursday.
The statement stated that, the commission has updated its website, with the name of Omoaje appearing as the national chairman of the AA as against the name of one Kenneth Obidiche Udeze that was there before.
Recalled that some courts of competent jurisdictions, including an Ogun State High Court, the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja and Abuja division of the Court of Appeal had ordered INEC to recognize Omoaje as the national chairman of the AA.
For a long period of time, INEC failed to honour the orders of the court and continued to act in defiance of court orders.
INEC had until recently recognized Udeze as the national chairman of the party, whereas Udeze had since been suspended and subsequently expelled from the party in accordance with the party’s constitution and the approval of the members of the think tank committee of the party.
However, Udeze continued to parade himself as the national chairman of the party despite various court judgments that gave recognition to Omoaje who emerged as the national chairman of the party at the party’s lawfully constituted convention held in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
However, on Tuesday, INEC retraced its step as it formally recognized Omoaje as the authentic and genuine national chairman of the party, thus published his name on the commission’s website.
The electoral body also removed the name of Udeze from its website completely and directed all its state and local government offices to recognize Omoaje as the national chairman of AA.
With this development, Omoaje is to present candidates for the next elections, holding in Bayelsa Kogi and other parts of the country.
Reacting to the development, the National chairman of the party, Hon. Adekunle Rufai Omoaj noted that the party will continue to thrive despite the challenges it went through as a result of Udeze’s illegal actions.