• Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

    Political Talk Today

    Political talks and news

    2023: Court Fixes Date To Hear Suit Against PDP, Atiku

    By

    Sep 1, 2022

    A Federal High Court, Abuja, has fixed September 14 to hear a suit filed against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

    Justice Ahmed Mohammed fixed the date after granting a motion on notice for an extension of time filed by Priscila Eje, counsel for the PDP, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto and Atiku.

    The motion was granted after it was not opposed by a lawyer to the plaintiffs, Wilfred Okoi.

    Naija News reports that the suit was instituted on June 3 by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State (1st plaintiff) and Michael Ekamon (s2nd plaintiff) challenging the last presidential primary election of the party.

    Although Wike was mentioned as one of the plaintiffs in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/782/2022, the governor had since denied being behind the suit.

    While the PDP is the 1st defendant, the Independents National Electoral Commission (INEC), Tambuwal and Atiku are 2nd to 4th defendants respectively in the suit.

    Okoi told the court that he had been served with a counter affidavit by PDP, Tambuwal and Atiku.

    Wike, in the suit, sought among other prayers, the court’s pronouncement declaring him the PDP’s presidential candidate for the 2023 election.

    Objecting to the suit by their counsel, Kunle Ajibade (SAN), Atiku, the PDP and Tambuwal described the suit as frivolous, unknown to law and not cognisable under a pre-election matter.

    The defendants said the first plaintiff did not participate in the primary election and lacked the requisite locus standi to institute the suit.

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

    The fourth ground was that the suit was not initiated by due process of the law.

    They, therefore, sought an order of the court striking out or dismissing the suit in its entirety for want of jurisdiction.

    Although Wike had, recently, denied filing any suit against the party and its presidential candidate, the party and others were represented in court, except INEC’s counsel, who was not in the court.

    This article was originally published on Naija News

    By

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *