A Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday shifted till August
12, a suit instituted by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenging the
propriety of the substitution of the running mates for the All Progress
Congress (APC) and Labour Party.
The running mates whose substitution is being challenged by
PDP are Kabiru Masari and Doyin Okupe for APC and Labour Party respectively.
In the suit filed by Gordy Uche SAN, on behalf of PDP, the
party is claiming that the Electoral Act 2022 did not make provision for a
“place holder” or temporary running mate and that time for resignation,
withdrawal or substitution of presidential candidates.
PDP is also contending that Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the APC presidential candidate and Peter Obi, Labour Party’s presidential candidates can only qualify to contest the 2023 presidential election with Masari and Okupe, as their respective running mates.
The plaintiff further claimed that the Independent National
Electoral Commission, INEC, lacked the power to accept any withdrawal or
substitution of Masari and Okupe without APC and Labour Party conducting fresh
primaries to substitute Tinubu and Peter Obi.
PDP averred that Masari and Okupe are not products of any
primary election and as such were not validly nominated by APC and Labour
Party.
PDP also stated that INEC cannot validly make any other
election timetable for the change and substitution of Masari and Okupe as
running mates to Tinubu and Peter Obi and that the candidacy of Tinubu and Obi
are tied to Masari and Okupe and cannot be severed, altered or changed any day
later than June 17, 2022.
At Tuesday’s proceedings, PDP represented by Pius Damba Pius
informed Justice Donatus Okorowo that his client has filed a motion on notice
seeking to join more parties in the suit.
The counsel who held the brief of a Senior Advocate of
Nigeria, Gordy Uche, further told the court that the motion on notice for joinder
has been served on parties already on record.
The claim of service of the motion on the defendants was,
however, disputed by the parties on record who claimed that they have not been
served.
Mubarak Adekilekun who stood for APC, Peter Abba who stood for
Tinubu and Masari as well as other defendants told the Judge that they have
filed counter affidavits challenging the jurisdiction of the court to hear the
suit and pleaded with Justice Okorowo to first entertain the opposition before
proceeding to the substantive matter.
Due to lack of service of joinder motion on the parties,
Justice Okorowo fixed August 12, to hear the matter and counselled the PDP to
put its house in order before the adjourned date so as not to hinder the
hearing.
Defendants in the suit with No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1016/2022 are
INEC, APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Kabiru Masari, Labour Party, Peter Obi and Doyin
Okupe and 1st to 7th defendants respectively.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com