NEWS DIGEST– A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a lawsuit against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and others, filed by Senator Aishatu Dahiru – the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for Adamawa State Governorship election in the most recent election.
Justice Donatus Okorowo ruled that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case after the defendants’ preliminary objection was successful. Dahiru had requested a court order to prevent INEC from prosecuting suspended Adamawa Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Hudu Yunusa-Ari for proclaiming her the winner of the March 18 gubernatorial election.
The order was meant to be in place until her appeal before the Adamawa ElectionAppeall Tribunal had been heard and decided. Dahiru argued that since the suspended REC was Yunusa-Ari’s key witness before the tribunal, her case would be prejudiced by her prosecution in Adamawa High Court before the electoral tribunal’s ruling.
After Yunusa-Ari declared Dahiru as the winner of the poll before the conclusion of the process in April, INEC headquarters barred him from the state’s office. Following a supplementary poll, INEC declared Gov. Umaru Fintiri as the winner of the election and ordered the prosecution of Yunusa-Ari at the state’s high court.
In a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/935/2023, Dahiru sued INEC, the Inspector-General (I-G) of Polic,e and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) as 1st to 3rd respondents respectively, seeking the interpretation of Section 144 of the Electoral Act, 2022 and a preservative order seeking the maintenance of status quo by parties pending the hearing and determination of the suit.
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Dahiru’s counsel, Michael Aondoaka, SAN, in the ex-parte motion earlier filed and granted by the court on July 10, drew the attention of the judge to the fact that a petition was before an Adamawa Election Petition Tribunal and would be dispensed with within 180 days the law. He argued that the star witness to their client, Yunusa-Ari, was being harassed and prevented from giving evidence before the tribunal which could jeopardize the case at the tribunal.
He prayed the court to restrain the respondents from prosecuting Yunusa-Ari pending the determination of Dahiru’s petition at the tribunal. However, counsel to INEC, Adebisi Adeniyi, who held brief for Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, disagreed with Dahiru’s lawyer’s submission. He said that the charge being preferred against the suspended REC was a bailable one that would allow him to give his testimony before the tribunal.
Adeniyi argued that Dahiru had not placed anything before the court to show she had reasonable cause of action. Besides, he argued that the applicant had not shown whether the suspended REC had either been invited, ar, rested,d or charged.
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The lawyer, who said that the judges that would determine the election petition case were not robots, said they were judges who were properly trained, experienced, and would be guided by law. According to him, there is no way the prosecution of the suspended REC will affect the plaintiff’s petition.
He submitted that if Yunusa-Ari felt strongly about the charge, he was the rightful person to canvass such an argument before a high court in the state and not Dahiru. Adeniyi, who challenged the jurisdiction of the court to hear the matter, said the suit ought to have been filed in the state.
Delivering the judgment, Justice Okorowo agreed with Dahiru that she had disclosed a course of action in the matter, but held that the court did not have jurisdiction to entertain the case. The judge held that if the preliminary objection of the defendants succeeded, the court had nothing to adjudicate on anymore.
