A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a suit filed against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the party’s ward congresses conducted on July 27 last year in Kaduna State.
Justice Peter Ode Lifu, in a ruling on Monday, dismissed the suit for lack of jurisdiction.
The suit filed by six members of the party, namely, Sheu Isa Dan Ina, Mutari Shuaib, Yusuf Suleiman, Nura Waziri, Mansur Alasan, and Jaafar Abubakar, is challenging the legality of the Congress while seeking to stop local government congresses in the state.
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1144/24 and filed by their lawyer, Mahmoud Abubakar Magaji, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, the plaintiffs claimed to be among the authentic candidates for the PDP Ward Congresses in Kaduna State but were unlawfully excluded from participating in the congresses.
In their originating summons, the six aggrieved party members brought six issues before the court for determination and also sought four reliefs.
They prayed the court to invoke Article 15 of the party’s constitution and Section 82 of the Electoral Act 2022 to compel the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party to act on the report of its Election Appeal Committee to conduct fresh Ward Congresses for them to participate in.
They also asked the court to restrain the PDP from holding its August 10, 2024, local government congresses and to stop the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from monitoring the exercise.
However, Justice Lifu, in his judgment, held that the case of the plaintiffs was not justiciable.
The judge also held that the selection of officers for the party and the nomination of candidates for elective offices are purely internal affairs of the party that no court can dabble in.
He held that he found no merit in the claims of the aggrieved party members to grant their relief.
Justice Lifu subsequently dismissed the suit for lack of jurisdiction but did not award the cost of litigation against the plaintiffs.
