A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has dismissed the case challenging Tinubu’s candidacy ahead of the 2023 polls.
This was disclosed in a statement released by the Director, Media & Publicity of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga on Wednesday. He said the dismissed case is the fourth being dismissed against Tinubu in the last couple of weeks.
The latest of the case with suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/854/2022 being dismissed by Justice Fadima Aminu Muritala of the Federal High Court was instituted by Elder Ngozika Ihuoma, who dragged Tinubu and five others to court on 9 June 2022 after the former won the APC presidential primary election.
Ihuoma was reported to have sought six reliefs, which included INEC barring Tinubu from contesting the 2023 presidential election.
However Justice Muritala dismissed the case for being speculative after APC’s counsel, Julius Ishola Esq from Babatunde Ogala & Co urged the Court to dismiss it with heavy costs for wasting judicial time.
Onanuga advanced that Justice Muritala described the plaintiff, Elder Ngozika Ihuoma as a “meddlesome interloper having no locus standi to institute the suit.”
He also revealed that in defence of the suit, the law office of Babatunde Ogala (SAN) & Co on behalf of All Progressives Congress filed a counter affidavit in opposition to the Originating Summons and a Notice of Preliminary Objection.
The counter affidavit challenged Ihuoma’s locus standi and grounds for the action, noting punctured Ihuoma’s case as academic, theoretical and an abuse of court process.
It sought a court declaration that the case was speculative, pre-emptive and non-justiciable being the internal affairs of a political party.
On that premise, the court on Monday upheld the defense counsel’s objections and struck out the case.
