South-West Secretary of the New Nigeria People’s Party, (NNPP), Dr. Babatunde Oke, has chided the Kano State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) over the Court of Appeal judgment, which ruled that Kano Governor, Abba Yusuf, is not a member of the NNPP.....CONTINUE READING
He said that the APC and the court have no right to determine who is a member of the NNPP.
Oke made this known on Sunday in a statement in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, in reaction to the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which on Friday, affirmed the tribunal judgment that declared the Kano State APC candidate, Nasiru Gawuna, winner of the governorship election.
Delivering judgment on the matter on Friday, the Appeal Court held that Yusuf was not qualified to contest the election, because he is not a member of the NNPP.
But Oke, in the statement said that the Appeal Court judgment will be overturned by the Supreme Court, adding that political parties have supremacy over their own affairs.
He said that from the previous judgments, it has been ascertained that political parties have supremacy over their own affairs and no court can inquire into the membership or leadership of a political party.
“The issue of membership of a political party is a party affair and it’s outside the purview of the court’s jurisdiction. It is a matter which only political parties can decide. To inquire into such would amount to a court poking into the internal or domestic affairs of the party.
“In the case of Tinubu vs Obi, the same court ruled that the candidate’s membership is a party affair.”