A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a case opposing Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s bid for the All Progressives Congress presidential nomination (APC).
APC stalwart and human rights activist Ngozika Ihuoma had sued Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar on June 9 for allegedly breaking electoral laws just days after the former governor of Lagos State had won the APC presidential primary.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, the Attorney-General of the Federation, and the two presidential candidates were all named defendants in the lawsuit with the filing number FHC/ ABJ/CS/854/2022.
Ihuoma asked for six reliefs, including that Tinubu not be allowed to run for president in 2023 by INEC.
The law firm of Babatunde Ogala & Co. filed a counter affidavit in response to the original summons and a notice of preliminary objection on behalf of the APC in defense of the lawsuit.
However, the Federal High Court in Abuja dismissed the case on Monday.
The plaintiff was referred to as a “meddlesome invader with no locus standi to institute the complaint” by Justice Fadima Muritala.
APC’s attorney Julius Ishola Esq. from Babatunde Ogala urged the court to dismiss the action with substantial costs for wasting judicial time, and the matter was subsequently dismissed for being speculative.
It was the court’s fourth recent decision to dismiss a lawsuit.
Hours after the decision, Bayo Onanuga, the APC Presidential Campaign Council’s director of media and publicity, published a statement confirming this.
He also revealed that Ihuoma’s locus standi and legal justifications were contested in the rebuttal affidavit.
Onanuga declared,
Ihuoma’s case was criticized in the counter affidavit as being academic, theoretical, and an abuse of the legal system. On Monday, the court upheld the defense attorney’s arguments and dismissed the case.
“In the past couple of weeks, the courts have dismissed various complaints brought by opposition forces, notably Action Alliance, against Asiwaju Tinubu for being frivolous, without merit, and for abusing the legal system.”
