Court begins hearing in Akeredolu, Abraham’s suit on Wednesday

FEDERAL High Court sitting in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), presided over by Justice Nnamidi Dimgba, will on Wednesday resume hearing in the suit by the Ondo State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant, Dr Segun Abraham against the state governor Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN).

Akeredolu was declared a winner at the primary supervised by the Jigawa State Governor Abubakar Bagudu.

However, Abraham is challenging Akeredolu’s emergence as the APC standard bearer for the 2016 poll based on the outcome of the party primaries and urging the court to declare him the winner of the primary.

The 2016 APC primary has remained a subject of litigation for almost two years, following the failure of efforts at reconciliation by the party.

The commencement of the suit followed the verdict of the Supreme Court that Akeredolu’s appeal was without merit and could not stop the case from being heard at the high court.

It was learnt that some party members in the camp of Abraham, at the weekend, raised the alarm that plans were underway to either delay or truncate the case by resorting to technicalities.

According to them, there is a plot to either challenge the jurisdiction of the court to hear the case or blackmail the judge by requesting that the case is moved to another judge.

But, the Publicity Secretary, Abayomi Adesanya and Director of Media and Publicity of the APC, Steve Otaloro, both described the allegation as a fabrication, saying that Akeredolu cannot manipulate any judgment because the case favours him.

“They are crying wolf where there is none. They should have confidence in the judiciary. They should not be jittery,” Otaloro said.

Otaloro, while describing Akeredolu as an activist and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and one who upholds the rule of law, lamented that it was unfortunate that Nigerians were insulting the country’s “judiciary by coming up with this frivolous allegation.”

“Whether these confusionists believe it or not, our judiciary remains one of the best in the world. The camp of Abraham is jittery because all of them know the matter they took to court is only awaiting official nullification because it lacks substance,” he said.