Court dismisses Nwaijuba’s suit seeking Tinubu, Atiku’s disqualification

The Federal High Court, Abuja has dismissed a suit by ex-Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, and the incorporated trustees of Rights for all International against the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and his Peoples Democratic Party counterpart, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

Justice Inyang Ekwo, while delivering judgment on Thursday, declined jurisdiction on the grounds that the plaintiffs lacked the legal right to have filed the suit.

Ekwo, who also described the suit as incompetent and proceeded to dismiss it, condemned the involvement of RAI, which claimed to be a non-government organisation, in politically motivated cases.

The Judge held that, by its involvement in politically motivated cases and by extension, partisan politics, RAI went outside the objectives for which it was registered under part of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and taken steps inimical to public policy.

Justice Ekwo proceeded to dissolve RAI and ordered the CAC to take over the dissolved group and deal with it in accordance with the provisions of the law.

In the suit, Nwajiuba and RAI had sought, among others, to void the primaries that produced Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar as candidates of the APC and PDP for the next presidential election. They also prayed the court to replace Tinubu with the ex-minister who said he participated in APC’s primary but scored no vote.

He had before then resigned as minister following the signing of the Electoral Act.