A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a suit by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) seeking an order to disqualify Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara State from contesting the state governorship election later this year.
Delivering judgment, Justice Inyang Ekwo dismissed the suit for being incompetent and an abuse of court process.
He said the PDP lacked the right to sue since it wasn’t a participant in the All Progressives Congress governorship primary that produced Abdulrazaq.
The judge added that Section 29 (5) of the Electoral Act 2022 provides that only an aspirant who participated in a party’s political primary can seek to disqualify another for giving false information as in this particular case.
Justice Ekwo added that there is no provision in the Electoral Act or the Constitution that gives a political party that legal right to challenge the candidacy of an aspirant.
The judge further noted that the governorship primaries being an internal affair of the APC, completely rules out the part of the PDP in seeking to dictate how it conducts its affairs.
The suit which was filed on August 4, 2022 had urged the court to make an order directing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to delist the name of Abdulrazaq as a candidate of the APC for 2023 Kwara governorship election.
The party further urged the court to declare that Abdulrazaq had presented forged WAEC certificate to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and INEC.
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