Court dismisses PDP's suit seeking to void Tinubu/Shettima ticket

• Published date: 13 January 2023
• Publication title: Nigeria - The Nation

AFederal High Court, Abuja has dismissed a suit by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) seeking the disqualification of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Kassim Shettima as the presidential and vice-presidential candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in next month's election.

Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a judgment on Friday, dismissed the suit on the grounds that the PDP lacked locus standi to have instituted the suit.

Justice Ekwo found that the suit was caught by the principle of issue estoppel, similar having been decided by the court, and held that amounted to an abuse of the process of the court.

The judgment was on the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1734/2022, with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), APC, Tinubu and Shettima listed as defendants.

Justice Ekwo held that where a plaintiff lacked the locus standi to institute an action, the court has no jurisdiction to entertain such an action.

The judge added that the subject matter of the suit bordered on the internal affairs of the APC in respect of which the PDP lacked locus standi to file the case to challenge.

He agreed with the defendants that the suit disclosed no cause of action against them, it touches on the internal affairs of the APC and therefore non-justiciable.

Justice Ekwo held that since the PDP was without the reuisite locus standi to initiate the action, it also could not establish any cause of action against the defendants.

The judge equally agreed with the defendants that the suit was an abuse of court process.

He said: 'It is express, in the provision of Section 29 (5) of the Electoral Act, 2022, that the right of action on the matter for which the applicant/respondent (PDP) has filed this action is given to any aspirant who participated in the primaries of his political party.'

The judge added that since it was established that...