By Our Reporter
Calabar (Converseer) – A former Cross River State Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and former Attorney-General of the State, Attah Ochinke Esq., has expressed disappointment at the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) de-recognition of the leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Ochinke, who is a member of the ruling APC, said in an interview that INEC gave a legally baseless interpretation of the court order, which was intended to maintain the status quo.
“Understand that one of the factions of the ADC went to court and in the application they brought before the court, asked it to restrain the David Mark-led EXCO from acting. However, the court said, ‘No, until I hear the full case, go back and maintain the status quo.’ In my understanding, it means go back and maintain the David Mark-led leadership,” Ochinke said.
He said INEC did not do so, but rather “put in place a status quo that was never in place before; which is a leaderless ADC”.
“You can’t remove the leadership of ADC and leave it leaderless and claim you’re obeying the court order, because a leaderless ADC was not the status quo at any point in time.”
Taking a swipe at the Chairman of INEC, he said much was expected from Prof. Joash Amupitan who is an authority in law.
“I think INEC is wrong, legally speaking. I am surprised because the chairman of INEC is a respectable Professor of Law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). If he did not have a legal background, you would say he depended on the advice of his legal team. But he can interpret the situation for himself,” Ochinke posited.
He further added that Amupitan has by his action cast more doubt on the credibility of the electoral umpire and his credibility as a senior lawyer.
“INEC has come up with this ridiculous interpretation and it has fortified the doubt that people have about the integrity of INEC. The current chairman of INEC himself has admitted at least three times in his address to the press that INEC has a trust deficit. I think that he has by this action only succeeded in embellishing that trust issue,” he maintained.
Advising on the way forward, he noted that it would be more proper to ask for an interpretation of the existing court order instead of proceeding on an appeal.
According to him, “Legally speaking, I have heard that the legal team of ADC is planning to go on an appeal. I think that is a long process. Appeal has its processes and timelines. They do not have time.”
Ochinke while maintaining that he would love his party the ruling APC to win the upcoming elections, said it is important to ensure that the elections are credible.
He maintained that there’s no evidence to support conjectures that the APC was behind the chaos in the opposition parties; “all the dramatis personae in the crisis within the PDP, ADC and Labour Party are all members of those parties”.
