Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court Abuja has dismissed a suit seeking to void the nomination of Olumide Akpata as the candidate of the Labour Party in the September 21 governorship election in Edo State.
In a judgement, Justice Omotosho upheld the arguments by Akpata’s lawyer, Johnson Usman, (SAN) that the plaintiffs were without the legal right to institute the suit.
The suit was filed by Anderson Asemota, Monday Mawah, a deputy governorship candidate, and Lamidi Apapa, listed as acting national chairman of the Labour Party.
Listed as defendants were the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Olumide Akpata and the Labour Party.
Justice Omotosho held that the plaintiffs lacked the locus standi to have approached the court on the issue because they did not participate in the February 23, 2024 primary of the party from which Akpata emerged as the party’s candidate.
The judge also found that the issue was about the nomination of a candidate, which forms part of the internal affairs of a political party.
He held that it is the party that determines who its candidate is, and proceeded to hold that the court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the suit.
The judge further held that even if the court was to assume jurisdiction, the suit itself lacked merit.
Justice Omotosho noted that contrary to the plaintiffs’ arguments, the Court of Appeal nullified the orders made by a high court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) including the order restraining Julius Abure-led leadership of the party.
The judge said, “This means that the third plaintiff (Apapa) and those who were in acting capacity with him immediately had all their decisions nullified and non-existent.
“Thus, any letter written by the said acting executives, or any decisions including the purported consensus primary election which produced the 1st plaintiff (Asemota) are all non-existent, void and of no effect whatsoever.
“It is a trite principle of law that you cannot put something on nothing and expect same to stand.
“The entire foundation upon which the plaintiffs claim rests has been thoroughly demolished by the decision of the Court of Appeal.
“The argument that the decision of the high court of the FCT was valid as at when the primary election was conducted may be true to some extent especially if the Court of Appeal had yet to hand down its judgment.
“The judgment, however, destroys this argument and ensures that the first plaintiff for all intents and purposes cannot be deemed to be a candidate who emerged from a valid primary election.
“Thus the 1st plaintiff cannot claim that his name should be accepted by the ist defendant as candidate of the 3rd defendant for the governorship elections in Edo state in 2024,” Justice Omotosho said.
The plaintiffs had prayed the court to among others, order INEC to publish Asemota’s name as the winner of the Edo Labour Party Governorship Primary Election, having emerged as the consensus candidate and winner of the February 22 primary conducted by the primary election committee set up by the party’s national working committee (NWC) under Apapa’s leadership.
