Pre-election dispute: Court strikes out Amaechi’s suit against Atiku

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File: Rotimi Amaechi (left) and Atiku Abubakar.

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The Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday struck out a pre-election dispute suit filed by the former governor of Rivers, Rotimi Amaechi, against former vice president Atiku Abubakar.

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The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Amaechi had filed the suit challenging the emergence of Abubakar as the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

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Jutsice Joyce Abdulmalik, in a ruling, struck out the suit after the former governor’s lawyer, Jibrin Okutepa, SAN, moved a motion for withdrawal.

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Okutepa informed the court that an application for the discontinuance of the case had already been filed after parties had settled their differences.

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The senior lawyer prayed the court to strike out the case.

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After listening to the counsel, Justice Abdulmalik made an order striking out the suit.

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Amaechi, also a former minister of transport in the suit, prayed the court for an order setting aside the presidential primary election of May 25 that produced Abubakar as ADC candidate.

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Amaechi, in the fresh suit, said the election was conducted in breach of Section 77(5) and (6) of the Electoral Act, 2026; the ADC’s Constitution, 2026; and Sections 2, 2.1 and 2.2 of ADC’s Guidelines for the conduct of primary elections for the nomination of candidates for the 2027 general elections.

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He sought an order restraining Abubakar from parading himself or presenting himself for election as the presidential candidate of ADC at the 2027 general elections on the premise that he (Amaechi) won the poll held on May 25.

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He equally sought an order restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission (NAN) from recognising Abubakar as the presidential candidate of ADC.

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He sought an order mandating the party to conduct a fresh presidential primary election which must comply with the Electoral Act, 2006; Article 38.4 of the ADC’s Constitution; and the party’s guidelines for the conduct of the primary poll within 14 days from the date of the judgement.

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The suit was filed by Amaechi’s lead counsel, Mr Okutepa.

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In the originating summons marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1215/2026, the former minister sued Abubakar, ADC and INEC as defendants.

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In the affidavit in support of the suit, deposed to by Amaechi himself, the former governor said he was a duly registered member of ADC at Ward 8, Ubima, Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers.
He said he is also a registered voter with the right to vote and be voted for at the general elections.

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He described himself as “a graduate of English language from the University of Port Harcourt and also a legal practitioner.”

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Amaechi said he purchased the party’s nomination form for the presidential primary election and was duly issued the form, screened alongside the other aspirants, and was cleared.

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He said he duly participated in the party’s primary and appointed agents and coordinators to represent him and oversee the conduct for him at the national, state and ward levels across the country.

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He said on May 27, ADC published the purported final result.

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“The said result shows that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar won the election as he purportedly scored a total of 1,846,370 votes, while I purportedly scored a total of 504,177 votes to come a distant second, and Mohammed Hayatu-Deen purportedly scored a total of 177,120 votes to come third.”

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The plaintiff alleged that the entire process of the election was done in breach and contravention of the Electoral Act, 2026; the ADC’s Constitution, 2026; and the guidelines for the conduct of primary elections for the nomination of candidates for the 2027 general elections as published by the party.

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He said he knows that each political party was expected to submit such a membership register to INEC not later than 21 days before the date fixed for the party primaries, congresses and conventions.

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He, however, averred that ADC did not use any membership register for the presidential primary election of the party held on May 25.

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Amaechi said, instead, the party relied on the procedure set out in Section 10.8(6) of its guidelines.

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He said he was aware that ADC did not apply to INEC to obtain a certified true copy of its membership register across the various states and electoral wards of Nigeria for use for accreditation during the said election.

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He said he was present and monitored the election at various electoral wards that make up his local government.

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He said even the final declaration of the result form made on May 27 was totally unsigned, with no column for signatures and names of the election committee members who authored them.

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Besides, he said the names and signatures of his agent(s) were not on the form, “and the document is without a date.”

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He said he wrote a letter to the National Organising Secretary (NOS) of the ADC, requesting certified true copies of the membership registered and used by the party for the accreditation of voters during the poll.

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He said he received a response from the NOS that the membership registered was not used for the election.

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Against this development, he said he wrote a petition to the presidential appeal committee of the party pursuant to Section 11 of the guidelines for the conduct of the election.

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He said he was invited by the committee, and he adopted the petition and also submitted his written submission of facts in further support of the same.

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He said when there was no response from the appeal committee, he wrote a letter to the national chairman of the party, Sen. David Mark, drawing his attention to the failure of the appeal committee to communicate its decision to me.

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“Following the failure of the national chairman of the 2nd defendant (ADC) to address the concerns I raised regarding the said presidential primary election despite my letters and complaints, I proceeded to institute this suit,” he said. (NAN)

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