A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed two suits filed by some members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State in relation to the disputes over the party’s leadership and its choice of mode of primary to be adopted for selecting candidate for the forthcoming governorship election.
In two judgments on Monday, Justice Taiwo Taiwo dismissed both suits marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/581/2018 and FHC/ABJ/CS/833/2019.
The first suit prayed the court to determine the true leaders of the party from the two sets of members of the party in the state, claiming entitlement to its leadership.
The second queried the decision of the APC’s National Working Committee (NWC) to adopt indirect primary in choosing the party’s candidate for the forthcoming governorship election.
Plaintiffs were of the view that the choice of the mode to be adopted for primary can not be determine while the leadership question in the state chapter of the party is still unresolved, with the pendency of the suit marked:FHC/ABJ/CS/ 581/2018.
Justice Taiwo, in the first judgment, dismissed the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/ 581/2018 for being statute barred on the grounds that it was not heard within the 180 days stipulated under Section285(10) of the Constitution.
In the second judgment on the case marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/833/2019, Justice Taiwo held since this suit was predicated on the first suit (FHC/ABJ/CS/ 581/2018), which ad been dismissed, it was unnecessary determining issues raised in the suit (FHC/ABJ/CS/833/2018 on the grounds that they have become academic.