The Grassroots Mobilisation Network, GMN, a support group of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, has called on well meaning Nigerians to caution the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, over what it described as frivolous court cases and judgments against opposition parties.
In a press statement issued Friday in Abuja by its spokesperson, Usman Bala, the group alleged that both officials were behind recent court actions undermining Nigeria’s democracy.
“These government officials are openly doing things against their oath of office. They want to derail our hard earned democracy,” Bala said.
The GMN faulted Fagbemi’s move to approach the Federal High Court for the deregistration of some political parties, describing it as an aberration and a call for anarchy.”
“It’s very clear that Fagbemi’s action targets the ADC after the Supreme Court judgment ruled in favour of our party,” Bala said. “ADC is their target. They don’t want the party to participate in the election, hence all the manipulations.
“Now, Fagbemi is engineering a new case, which itself is inconsequential and unnecessary,” he alleged, accusing the AGF of escalating legal attacks on the opposition.
The group said the ADC met all the requirements among the existing parties because the party won seats in the National Assembly,” arguing that moves to deregister it were unrealistic.
“We don’t know why this government is afraid to participate in the election. The APC came to power via a fair process,” Bala added, questioning the administration’s resort to the courts instead of the ballot.
“Let the APC prepare for election rather than trying to foist crises on all available political parties in the country,” he said.
“Fagbemi approaching the court to deregister political parties is a clandestine plan to foist a one party system on Nigeria,” Bala stated.
The group further alleged that “Nafiu Bala Gombe was their creation in order to engineer crisis in the opposition ADC,” linking the ongoing leadership tussle in the party to government interference.
The GMN also cited Wike’s recent public comments on a Supreme Court judgment in favour of the ADC, alleging that the minister’s reference to judgments of Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court simply exposed their abuse of power.
“Instead of Wike facing his faction of the PDP, which was quashed by the Supreme Court, he’s busy exposing their clandestine plans against our party, ADC,” Bala said.
“The judicial interference by government officials has destroyed hope in the judicial system in the country,” Bala said. “How on earth will Wike be making reference to a judge? It’s now clear that Justice Abdulmalik is doing the bidding of the government, especially the FCT Minister.”
“We urge the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, to call Justice Abdulmalik to order. She’s one judge who has been an affront to Supreme Court decisions. Her judgments usually contravene the jurisdiction of political parties,” Bala said.
He alleged that Justice Abdulmalik “always contravenes Section 83 of the Electoral Act, which is clear about internal party crises, but she disregards this Act by allowing the ruling party to meddle in the affairs of opposition parties.”
“For Wike to make reference to such, there is more than meets the eye,” he added.
Bala disclosed that the group would petition Justice Abdulmalik to the National Judicial Council, NJC, as well as the American and European Union embassies, “over her frivolous court cases and judgments against democracy.”
“Today, she is the late Justice Dahiru Saleh of the infamous June 12 era,” he said, likening the judge to the jurist whose order precipitated the annulment of the 1993 presidential election.
He appealed to eminent Nigerians to call these anti democratic elements to order.
The GMN statement comes amid a supreme Court victory over the leadership crisis in the ADC and ongoing litigation involving multiple opposition parties ahead of the 2027 general elections.
