By Adeleye Kunle
Justice Obiora Egwuata of the Federal High Court in Abuja dismissed a suit yesterday challenging the validity of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Ward Congress in Akwa Ibom State on April 30, 2022.
Justice Egwuatu dismissed the suit, claiming that the court lacked jurisdiction because the plaintiffs who initiated the court action lacked the necessary legal backing.
According to the ruling, the suit filed by Friday Iwok and 30 others, FHC/ABJ/CS/606/2022, was incompetent, without merit, and should be dismissed.
The defendants are the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the elected ad hoc delegates who emerged from the ward congresses as the first to 331st defendants, respectively.
Plaintiffs specifically requested that the said convention be declared null and void, as well as the outcome of the April 30 ward congress, which produced the ad hoc delegates who voted in the primaries.
However, Justice Egwuatu ruled in his decision that the suit lacked merit because the plaintiffs lacked locus standi because they did not vote for the party’s delegates in the state.
According to him, in order for a party to have locus standi, he must have participated in the election whose outcome he is contesting.
On the plaintiffs’ contention that the PDP’s actions violated the issue of fair hearing, the judge stated that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate how the party violated their constitutional rights.
Despite the plaintiffs’ claim that they purchased the expression of interest and nomination forms to contest in the ward congresses that produced the delegates, Egwuatu held that the party’s public notice for the election was clear and unambiguous.
“The notice informed the public that all PDP card-carrying members, particularly those seeking election as ad hoc delegates, are expected to participate in the elections.”
“No member was excluded by this notice,” he said.
He claimed that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate that the PDP used any criteria to screen or disqualify anyone.
“Whoever asserts must prove,” he added, citing sections of the Evidence Act to support his decision.
He also ruled that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case because it involved the party’s internal affairs.
The court also agreed that the plaintiffs had not exhausted the party’s internal dispute resolution mechanism before filing the case.
As a result, the judge dismissed the case for lack of merit.
“I am inclined to agree with the second defendant’s counsel” (PDP). “This suit lacks merit in its entirety and is thus dismissed,” he declared.
In response to the decision, Counsel to the Second Defendant, Emmanuel Enoidem, stated that the decision will serve as a model for litigants who wish to take the 2022 Electoral Act as amended to court.
“The Electoral Act 2022 is a new legal instrument, and many courts of law have had the opportunity to consider the provisions, particularly the novel ones,” says the court. “However, this is the first time a court has sat to give a comprehensive decision, both in ruling and judgment, concerning some salient provisions of the Electoral Act.”
“The decision will serve as a model for many litigants who will want to go to court on issues relating to the 2022 Electoral Act, particularly Section 84 (3), which many people are using out of context.” “This court has taken the time to place it within the parameters that section was intended to serve,” he stated.
Pastor Umo Eno, the PDP governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom State, described the court ruling as “God in action,” adding that “this is what God’s handwriting looks like…
No matter how long it takes, truth will always triumph over falsehood and misrepresentation.”
