Alex Enumah in Abuja
Justice Inyang Ekwo of a Federal High Court, Abuja, yesterday, dismissed the swimsuit filed by the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Adamawa State, Senator Aisha Dahiru Ahmed Binani.
The dismissal was sequel to a proper withdrawal by the plaintiff.
Binani had gone to Court to hunt judicial overview of the choice by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to reverse her declaration as winner of the election by the state’s Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Hudu Yunusa Ari.
The court docket had quickly declined to listen to Binani’s movement for go away to file the swimsuit till she first addressed the court docket on whether or not the court docket has the jurisdiction to entertain the movement in the primary place.
However, when the matter got here up yesterday, Binani’s lawyer, Mr Mohammed Sheriff, informed the court docket that he had already filed a discover of discontinuance as directed by the plaintiff, and due to this fact prayed the court docket to strike out the swimsuit.
But, in a brief ruling, Justice Ekwo held that the swimsuit was responsible for dismissal and accordingly dismissed it.
Binani alongside her occasion, the APC, had in the applying hunted for an order of Prohibition and Certiorari stopping the electoral umpire and its brokers from taking any additional steps in the direction of the declaration of the winner of the elections pending the willpower of her software for judicial overview.
Sued with the Commission have been the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Ahmadu Fintiri, listed as 1st, 2nd and third defendants respectively.
The software was introduced pursuant to order 34 Rules 1a, order 3(1) & 3(2) a, b, c, Order 6 of the Federal High Court (civil process guidelines) 2019 and Section 251 (1)q & r of the 1999 Constitution, in addition to Section 149 & 152 of the Electoral Act, 2022.
In the grounds upon which the applying was introduced, the senator argued that, “the only court with power on a declaration made from the conduct of an election is only the Election Petition Tribunal set up by the 1999 Constitution.”
According to her, after the completion of vote in the supplementary governorship election of April 15, and the following collation of identical outcomes, INEC “declared her as the winner of the gubernatorial election and was thereby returned as elected.”
The applicants said pursuant to the declaration any dissatisfied candidate should resort to the tribunal for redress if any.
She faulted the cancellation of her declaration on April 16 based on some crisis caused by the PDP and its candidate, stressing that INEC “has no powers to cancel or declare the declaration as being made as null and void.”
Binani by means of her attorneys led by Hussaini Zakariyau, SAN, had submitted {that a} judicial overview existed to allow the superior court docket checkmate the actions and selections of inferior courts in addition to the legislative and administrative arm of presidency together with companies and public officers.
However, INEC had since declared Fintiri because the winner of the governorship election having scored majority of the votes forged in the election.
[TDL]