Suit seeking Tinubu’s inauguration: Court directs FCT residents to address it on jurisdiction

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2 years ago

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Monday, asked some residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), in the suit seeking to stop the May 29 inauguration of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, to address it on whether it has jurisdiction to hear and determine the matter.

The trial judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo also asked the plaintiffs represented by Mr. Anyaegbunam Okoye and four others to address the court on whether they have the legal right to file the suit and whether the matter is not already before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), sitting in Abuja.

The plaintiffs, representing other residents and registered voters of the FCT in the suit, which has the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) as respondents, want the court to determine whether they would not be discriminated against if any state within Nigeria was substituted for the FCT for the purpose of the application of Section 134(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution.

The plaintiffs also asked the court to determine whether any candidate in the February 25 presidential election in the country may validly be declared elected and sworn in as president without obtaining at least 25 percent of the votes cast in the FCT.

They equally want the court to restrain the swearing in of any person on May 29 or on any other date until the issues raised in the summons have been determined as well as an order setting aside or suspending any declaration or issuance of a certificate of return to any candidate in the February 25 presidential election except it was judicially determined.

The plaintiffs sought an order restraining the CJN, or any other judicial officer from swearing in any candidate in the February 25 presidential election as president or vice-president until it was judicially determined with finality in accordance with the provisions of the constitution.

This, according to them, is with effect to the fact that such a candidate had fulfilled the requirements of Section 134 (2) of the constitution.

Justice Ekwo adjourned the matter till May 18, 2023 for the plaintiffs to address the court on the issue of jurisdiction, locus standi (legal right) and whether the matter is not already before the Presidential Election Petition Court.

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