A Federal High Court sitting in Lokoja, Kogi State, has dismissed a suit challenging the nomination of Barrister Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senatorial Candidate for Kogi Central.
The presiding judge, Justice Peter Mallong, on Friday, held that the
legal action instituted by Adamu Atta, who was a contestant to the senatorial ticket, was grossly
incompetent, hence the suit was incurably defective and thereby robbed the court jurisdiction to entertain it.
Atta had in his Originating Summons alleged that Akpoti-Uduaghan did not
win the primary election of the PDP in Kogi Central Senatorial District
for the 2023 General Election and therefore her nomination should be
nullified.
He claimed, among others, that the May 25, 2022 primary election, which produced Akpoti-Uduaghan was flawed and not validly conducted as required by law.
The plaintiff asked the court to void and set aside the outcome of the primary election as well as the eventual nomination of the defendant.
However, Akpoti-Uduaghan through her counsel, Johnson Usman, SAN,
vehemently objected to the hearing of the suit on the ground that the
Originating Summon was not endorsed as required by law.
The senior lawyer in his preliminary objection against the legal action
relied on Section 97 of the Sheriff and Civil Process Act to establish
that the originating summon was incurably defective and incompetent
having not been endorsed in line with provisions of the law.
Besides the incompetence of the originating summon, Akpoti-Uduaghan had
in her counter affidavit averred that the primary election conducted on
May 25, 2022 was monitored by the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) and that she validly won, attaching the result sheet, delegates’ list and INEC report.
In his judgment, Justice Mallong agreed with Johnson Usman, SAN, that the suit was improperly commenced and that the Court lacked jurisdiction to hear same and consequently dismissed it in its entirety.
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