Court strikes out Amaechi’s suit against Atiku’s emergence as ADC candidate

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Friday struck out a pre-election dispute suit filed by the former governor of Rivers, Rotimi Amaechi, against former vice president Atiku Abubakar.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Amaechi had filed the suit challenging the emergence of Abubakar as the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, in a ruling, struck out the suit after the former governor’s lawyer, Jibrin Okutepa, SAN, moved a motion for withdrawal.

Okutepa informed the court that an application for the discontinuance of the case had already been filed after parties had settled their differences.

The senior lawyer prayed the court to strike out the case.

After listening to the counsel, Justice Abdulmalik made an order striking out the suit.

Amaechi, also a former minister of transport in the suit, prayed the court for an order setting aside the presidential primary election of May 25 that produced Abubakar as ADC candidate.

Amaechi, in the fresh suit, said the election was conducted in breach of Section 77(5) and (6) of the Electoral Act, 2026; the ADC’s Constitution, 2026; and Sections 2, 2.1 and 2.2 of ADC’s Guidelines for the conduct of primary elections for the nomination of candidates for the 2027 general elections.

He sought an order restraining Abubakar from parading himself or presenting himself for election as the presidential candidate of ADC at the 2027 general elections on the premise that he (Amaechi) won the poll held on May 25.

He equally sought an order restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission (NAN) from recognising Abubakar as the presidential candidate of ADC.

He sought an order mandating the party to conduct a fresh presidential primary election which must comply with the Electoral Act, 2006; Article 38.4 of the ADC’s Constitution; and the party’s guidelines for the conduct of the primary poll within 14 days from the date of the judgement.

The suit was filed by Amaechi’s lead counsel, Mr Okutepa.

In the originating summons marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1215/2026, the former minister sued Abubakar, ADC and INEC as defendants.

In the affidavit in support of the suit, deposed to by Amaechi himself, the former governor said he was a duly registered member of ADC at Ward 8, Ubima, Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers.

He said he is also a registered voter with the right to vote and be voted for at the general elections.

He described himself as “a graduate of English language from the University of Port Harcourt and also a legal practitioner.”

Amaechi said he purchased the party’s nomination form for the presidential primary election and was duly issued the form, screened alongside the other aspirants, and was cleared.

He said he duly participated in the party’s primary and appointed agents and coordinators to represent him and oversee the conduct for him at the national, state and ward levels across the country.

He said on May 27, ADC published the purported final result.

“The said result shows that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar won the election as he purportedly scored a total of 1,846,370 votes, while I purportedly scored a total of 504,177 votes to come a distant second, and Mohammed Hayatu-Deen purportedly scored a total of 177,120 votes to come third.”

The plaintiff alleged that the entire process of the election was done in breach and contravention of the Electoral Act, 2026; the ADC’s Constitution, 2026; and the guidelines for the conduct of primary elections for the nomination of candidates for the 2027 general elections as published by the party.

He said he knows that each  political party was expected to submit such a membership register to INEC not later than 21 days before the date fixed for the party primaries, congresses and conventions.

He, however, averred that ADC did not use any membership register for the presidential primary election of the party held on May 25.

Amaechi said, instead, the party relied on the procedure set out in Section 10.8(6) of its guidelines.

He said he was aware that ADC did not apply to INEC to obtain a certified true copy of its membership register across the various states and electoral wards of Nigeria for use for accreditation during the said election.

𝕤𝕖𝕖 𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖/𝕨𝕒𝕥𝕔𝕙 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕧𝕚𝕕𝕖𝕠 𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖