Court to Hear Suit against Atiku September 14

Justice Ahmed Mohammed of a Federal High Court, Abuja, has fixed September 14 for hearing in a suit challenging the emergence of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general election.

The suit, which has the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike and one Newgent Ekamon as plaintiffs is seeking the disqualification of Atiku as standard bearer of the PDP on the grounds of alleged irregularities in the conduct of the May 28 and 29 presidential primary that produced Atiku as PDP’s candidate.

Although Wike has since distanced himself from the court action, in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/782/2022, the plaintiffs placed eight issues for determination before the court,including whether the purported transfer of Tambuwal’s votes to Atiku by the PDP was illegal and void.

Defendants in the suit are PDP, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Atiku Abubakar and Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal as 1st to 4th respectively.

But the defendants, in their response, have asked the court to dismiss the suit for being frivolous, baseless, unwarranted and unknown to law.

PDP, Atiku and Tanbuwal predicated their objections on four cardinal grounds, amongst which were that the instant suit as filed was unknown to law and not cognizable under a pre-election matter.

In the suit filed on their behalf by Mr Ayo Ajibade, SAN, the three respondents averred that the first plaintiff, Ekamon, having not participated in the primary election conducted by the PDP lacked the requisite locus standi to institute this suit.

Atiku PDP and Tambuwal further stated that the suit as brought by the applicants did not fall within the purview of Section 84 of the Electoral Act, as such did not qualify as a pre-election dispute.

The fourth ground was that the instant suit was not initiated by due process of the law and therefore sought order of the court striking out or dismissing the suit in its entirety for want of jurisdiction.

In the Originating Summons, the plaintiffs were asking the court to determine if Tambuwal lost his claim to votes the moment he stepped down for Atiku.

They asked the court to determine whether Tambuwal, “having stepped down during the primaries, ought to lose his votes.”

Wike and Ekamon argued that should these issues be determined in their favour, the court should grant their reliefs, including a declaration that the purported transfer of Tambuwal’s votes to Atiku be declared null and void.

They further sought a declaration that the PDP acted negligently and in bad faith by assigning the Sokoto governor’s votes to Atiku at the primary.