Court Dismisses Suit Against Rivers APC NASS Candidates

A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has struck out a suit filed by the Peoples Democratic Party, in Rivers State, seeking to stop the All Progressives Congress National Assembly candidates from contesting the 2023 general election.

The PDP had in the suit FHC/PH/CS/127/2022 asked the court to direct the Independent National Electoral Commission, to delist the APC from the ballot on the grounds that the congresses and primaries that brought in the NASS candidates did not comply with the new Electoral Act.

But the presiding judge, Justice Turaki Mohammed, in his judgment on Wednesday, struck out the suit for lack of jurisdiction.

Justice Mohammed who delivered his judgment in barely five minutes said the lower court could have nothing to do on a matter that the appellate court had settled.

The judge drew his decision from an Appeal Court judgment, particularly, the decision of the Port Harcourt Division of the Court of Appeal.

Mohammed held that the decisions of the Court of Appeal on the subject matter were binding on him and formed sufficient grounds to strike out the case.