The judgment of the Federal High Court sitting in Kano, which nullified the candidature of Abia State governor-elect, Alex Otti and other members of the Labour Party, has been suspended by the Court of Appeal in Kano.
The decision, which was made on Saturday by a three-man panel led by Justice Ita Mbaba, also granted Alex Otti’s application to appeal as an interested party.
The Labour Party had filed an appeal challenging the judgment of Justice Yunusa of the Federal High Court. Justice Mbaba and other two Justices, Uche Onyemenam and Usman Musale, temporarily suspended the High Court Judgment after listening to the appellant counsels, Abiodun Owonikoko, Ken Ahia and Bashir Muhammad – all Senior Advocates of Nigeria.
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In the ruling, the order for a stay and suspension of the High Court judgment was granted, pending the hearing and determination of the appeal for which leave had been granted
The appellant was also ordered “to give an undertaking for damages in the sum of two million naira in favor of each of the respondents in the event of failure by the appellant to file or diligently prosecute the appeal in terms of the proposed notice of appeal containing ten grounds in Exhibit AO4”.
The respondents, Ibrahim Haruna Ibrahi, Labour Party, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), were not represented in court, despite being served.
Background of the case
In its May 18 judgment on the suit marked FHC/KN/CS/107/2023, which was filed by one Mr Ibrahim Haruna Ibrahim against the Labour Party and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), challenging the process of the primary elections in the states; the High Court in Kano described the party’s primary election as “null and void.”
Justice Yunusa had held “that the Labour Party had carried on with its activities in the selection for the general election in a manner that is at variance with mandatory provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 which renders its participation in the General Elections of 2023 in Kano & Abia states as null and void.”
The suit had alleged that the Labour Party failed to submit the names of its members in the 35 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in both hard and soft copies to INEC, 30 days before the primaries as stipulated by the Electoral Act.
In its judgment, the trial court held that the 1st defendant’s failure to submit its register to the electoral body violates the Electoral Act.
“The fundamentally flawed primary election of the first defendant, (Labour Party) as a result of failure to comply with the mandatory provisions of sections 77(2) and (3) cannot produce a qualified candidate,” the court rules.
The court had also held “that the void primary elections of Labour Party cannot produce eligible candidates to be sponsored by the party in the general election and the participation of the candidates in Kano and Abia states is of no value and a waste of time.
“That the votes cast for all the candidates of the Labour Party in Kano and Abia states in the General Elections of 2023 are wasted votes”.
The Appeal Court judgment means that the inauguration ceremony of Otti, and other members of the Labour Party affected by the High Court ruling, will hold as scheduled on May 29.