The Federal High Court (FHC), Abuja, on Friday, dismissed a suit filed by a group seeking the disqualification of Sen. Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), from the 2023 general election.
Judge Binta Nyako, in her judgment, stated that the plaintiff, Incorporated Trustees of Kingdom Human Rights Foundation International, did not have locus standi (legal right) to initiate the case.
“The issue of the applicant’s locus standi is a threshold issue because an action without locus standi will be void and will be set aside,” he said.
Justice Nyako held that the plaintiff, who is not a political party or member of the APC, has no legal right to file the action.
The judge, who also declared the suit an “abuse of the judicial process,” chastised the plaintiff for filing multiple claims for the same relief.
He said that Justice Inyang Ekwo of the FHC, on December 15, 2022, gave a decision on the same claim when it was rejected.
Nyako observed that the previous suit before Ekwo and the instant suit have the same relief even though the names of the parties are slightly different.
“As a result, the case was dismissed for abuse of court process,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the group has sued the chairman of INEC, APC and Mr. Tinubu as defendants 1 to 3.
The group, in a motion initiated by a notice marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1960/22, sought an order of mandamus directing INEC to exercise its statutory powers in accordance with Section 84(13) of the 2022 Electoral Act to immediately remove Tinubu. names from the final list of presidential candidates competing in the 2023 poll.
The group cited the failure of the APC to comply with the mandatory provisions of Section 91 (3) of the 2022 Electoral Act which stipulates that political parties shall not accept donations in cash or in kind exceeding N50 million without disclosing the source. contribution to INEC, among others.
But Tinubu, through his counsel, Karma Fagbemi, told Justice Nyako that the plaintiff is a meddlesome interloper who is neither a political party nor a candidate in the polls.
He said the plaintiff had no locus standi to initiate the case, which would have challenged the decisions of political parties and internal affairs.
Tinubu, in a preliminary objection filed by his lead counsel, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, prayed the court to dismiss the suit on grounds of incompetence.
Giving a 14-ground argument, the lawyer said the matter of the suit is a challenge to his client’s right to contest for the 2023 presidential election because the APC failed and/or ignored the source of N100 million. he paid for the expression of interest and nomination form.
He described the suit as unfair.
APC lawyer, Ibrahim Audu, also said the same thing