Human rights lawyer and social justice activist, Barrister Inibehe Effiong, has faulted the ruling of the Federal High Court sitting in Kano State which nullified the Labour Party’s Abia State Governor-elect, Dr Alex Otti and all the candidates of the party in Abia and Kano states.
The presiding judge of the court, Justice M. N. Yunusa, on Friday, ruled that Otti and other nullified candidates’ emergence was not in compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.
The court in a suit marked FHC/KN/CS/107/2023 filed on May 11, 2023, by one Mr Ibrahim Haruna Ibrahim against the Labour Party and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), ruled that the Labour Party’s failure to submit its membership register to the INEC within 30 days before their primaries rendered the process invalid.
Reacting to the court’s judgment, Inibehe said that first, the Federal High Court sitting in Kano, Northern region of Nigeria lacks jurisdiction to rule on Otti’s candidature in Abia, South Eastern region of the country.
Inibehe further faulted the court ruling based on the timeframe provided by the law for filing of pre-election cases, noting that Section 285 of the Constitution states that all pre-election matters must be filed within 14 days of the event. Meanwhile, the petitioner filed the case months after the elections.
He said, “Based on this Judgment Order, this case was filed on the 11th day of May, 2023. Alex Otti emerged as the gubernatorial candidate of LP during primaries held in June 2022.
“Section 285 of the Constitution states that all pre-election matters must be filed within 14 days of the event. A case relating to election is either a pre-election matter or a post election matter (election petition).
“If the case filed by Ibrahim Haruna Ibrahim at the Federal High Court in Kano was/is a pre-election matter, it should have been filed within 14 days of the primaries. How can a court assume jurisdiction in a matter that is indisputably statute barred? This is shocking.
“Also, no candidate was joined as a party in this suit. I have noted that Abia is specifically mentioned in the judgment. A court in Kano cannot nullify primaries outside Kano.
“The jurisdiction of the Federal High Court cannot be invoked this way. Nullifying primaries of candidates, and even declaring votes scored as wasted votes in this circumstance, goes against all established principles of law and fair hearing.
“The court lacked jurisdiction. This type of judgment has the potential of exposing the judiciary to avoidable public ridicule.”
