The Court dismissed the suit by ex-minister, Emeka Nwajiuba, seeking to stop Tinubu and Atiku from running for the 2023 presidential election.
By Emma Ogbuehi
A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a suit by former Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba and the Incorporated Trustees of Rights for All International (RAI) against the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and their presidential candidates.
In the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/942/2022, Nwajiuba and RAI had sought among others, to void the primaries that produced Bola Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar as candidates of the APC and PDP for the next presidential election. They also prayed the court to replace Tinubu with the ex-Minister, who said he participated in APC’s primary and scored zero vote.
Listed as defendants in the suit were the APC, PDP, Tinubu, Abubakar, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The first to sixth defendants in the case with suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/942/22 are: the APC, the PDP, Tinubu, Atiku, the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Independent National Electoral Commission.
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Nwajiuba, who purchased the APC presidential form for N100m, but polled only one vote at the June 8 primary, had accused Tinubu of bribing delegates with dollars.
The plaintiffs also attached as evidence a video recording showing the immediate past Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, lamenting that delegates to the APC primary sold their votes.
Based on the evidence, Nwajiuba and RAI presented 25 issues for determination by the court.
Specifically, the ex-minister asked the court to determine whether the composition of the delegates contravened Article 11(A) 12(1) and 13(1) of the constitution of the APC.
The ex-minister also asked the court to determine if the composition of the delegates at the PDP primary contravened Section 33(1) and (5) (c) of the constitution of the party.
The plaintiffs prayed the court to determine whether having regards to the clear unambiguous and express provisions and tenor of Sections 6(6) (A) (B) and (C) read alongside Section 15(5) of the 1999 Constitution, the court has the inherent judicial powers to nullify, cancel and declare as illegal the Presidential primaries of the APC and the PDP.
Nwajiuba asked the court to determine if all the votes cast in favour of Tinubu and Atiku at the special national convention of the APC and PDP are illegal, null and void and of no effect whatsoever on the grounds of corruption and selling of delegate votes and voter inducement.
Lastly, the ex-minister prayed the court to decide if having regards to the express provisions of paragraphs 1 and 8 of the 5th schedule of the 1999 Constitution, the corrupt conducts of the “third defendant (Tinubu) and the 4th defendant (Atiku) in buying votes and corruptly inducing delegates with dollars and naira in various sums to secure their votes at the special national convention… disqualifies them from further seeking, contesting and holding the office of the President.”
Consequently, the ex-minister soiught 26 reliefs including an order that the composition of delegates at the APC and the PDP was not properly constituted.
Specifically, Nwajiuba asked the court to rule that Atiku and Tinubu along with their agents bribed delegates with dollars and the votes they got should be declared illegal.
In a judgment on Thursday, Justice Inyang Ekwo declined jurisdiction on the grounds that the plaintiffs lacked the locus standi (the legal capacity to have instituted the suit) to have filed the suit.
Justice Ekwo, who also described the suit as incompetent and proceeded to dismiss it, condemned the involvement of RAI, which claimed to be a non-government organisation, in politically motivated cases.