Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court Abuja has dismissed a suit filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) Adamawa governorship candidate Aisha Binani Dahiru-Ahmed.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was the target of the lawsuit.
Recall that the APC candidate had asked the court to launch a judicial review of INEC’s decision to reverse its decision to retract Hudu Yunusa-Ari’s previous declaration of her as the election’s winner.
When the case was being heard again on Wednesday, Mohammed Sheriff, counsel for Binani, informed Justice Ekwo that a notice of discontinuance had been filed to that effect and urged the court to dismiss the case, according to NAN.
The attorney pleaded for the lawsuit to be dismissed after informing the court that numerous concerns had arisen between the last postponement date and the current one.
However, Justice Ekwo reminded the Sheriff that he was required to address the court regarding whether the court had jurisdiction to hear the case by order issued on the last adjourned date.
The judge decided that dismissing the case was the right course of action because the Sheriff had disobeyed the court’s order.
“I hereby make an order dismissing this suit,” Justice Ekwo declared.
On April 18, the judge turned down Binani’s request for an ex-parte hearing.
Ekwo, on the other hand, instructed the APC candidate’s attorney to address the court over the question of jurisdiction before the substantive motion was heard.
Although the judge was prepared to hear Sheriff, he insisted that the attorney first address the court on the subject of jurisdiction.
He ruled that the application and the jurisdictional question would be heard jointly on the next postponed date and postponed the hearing to April 26.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate and governor Ahmadu Fintiri was proclaimed the victor of the state’s governorship election by the electoral umpire on April 19.
Binani and APC sued INEC, PDP, and its candidate, Gov. Fintiri, as the first, second, and third respondents, respectively, in the motion ex-parte marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/510/2023.
Binani had requested a judicial review of the administrative decision made by INEC on April 16 regarding the declaration of her as the victor of the governorship elections held on March 18 and the April 15 supplementary election through the representation of Hussaini Zakariyau, SAN.
In addition, she asked for an order of prohibition and certiorari to stop INEC and its representatives from proceeding with the declaration of the election’s winner while her request for judicial review was being considered.
The PDP and its candidate, Governor Fintiri, resorted to fighting and causing a public disturbance, which resulted in the beating and manhandling of an INEC staff member, according to Binani, who provided grounds for why the motion should be granted. After the results were tallied, INEC declared her the election’s winner, but the PDP resorted to fighting and manhandling.
She claimed that because of this issue, INEC had to revoke the first declaration, which was outside of its authority because only the electoral petition tribunal is endowed with such authority.
