Court Fixes Oct 6 For Suit Against Tinubu, Atiku

Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, has fixed October 6, for the hearing of a suit seeking to disqualify the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, for allegedly acting in breach of the Electoral Act.

The suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/942/2022, was filed by the immediate past Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba alongside a non-governmental organization under the aegis of the Incorporated Trustees of Rights for All International.

In addition, the Plaintiffs are praying the court to disqualify Atiku Abubakar, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP over the same allegation.

Other Defendants in the matter are; the APC, PDP, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, as well as the Independent National Electoral Commission.

Specifically, the Plaintiffs, in the suit filed by their lawyer, Mr. Okere Nnamdi, alleged that the primary election that produced Tinubu as the 2023 presidential candidate of the APC, was characterised by corruption and massive vote buying.

The plaintiffs equally urged the court to disqualify Atiku for engaging in vote buying.

Plaintiff insisted that the majority of the delegates were bought over with dollars.

When the matter came up on Friday, the presiding judge, Justice Ekwo ordered the Plaintiffs to effect service of all the relevant court processes as well as hearing notices on all Defendants in the matter.

Recall that Nwajiuba, a chieftain of the APC and one of its presidential aspirants, had secured leave of the court to sue both Tinubu and Atiku.

In his proof of evidence, Nwajiuba, who polled one vote at the primary election held on June 8, included, a video recording showing the immediate past Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, decrying that delegates at the APC primary sold their votes.

Besides, the Plaintiffs queried Tinubu’s source of income and his educational qualifications.

They urged the court to declare that the 3rd defendant (Tinubu), “who had previously sworn an affidavit in the INEC nomination form declaring that he lost his primary and secondary school documents and benefitted therefrom, cannot in a later affidavit deny and abandon same facts deposed in the previous affidavit and thus falsely contradicting his academic qualifications”.

The Plaintiffs attached to the suit, copies of affidavits Tinubu deposed to while he was the governorship candidate of the Alliance for Democracy, AD, in Lagos state.

“That the entire circumstances surrounding the two depositions of the 3rd defendant points to the fact that they are false and misleading and cannot be relied upon.