By Sulaimon Jamiu
On Friday, the Federal High Court in Lagos declared that plaintiff, Abdul Kareem Shittu, is the legitimate candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for Ikorodu, in the Federal House of Representatives.
Shittu winning the party’s Lagos State House of Representatives primary that was held on 24th of May, 2022, was declared by Justice Daniel Osiagor.
The judgment instructed the PDP to officially nominate Shitu for the Ikorodu Federal Constituency by submitting his name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in a case where the first and second defendants are the PDP and INEC.
While delivering the ruling in Shittu’s lawsuit contesting the PDP’s alleged submission of the name of the third defendant in the litigation, Awesu AbdulAzeez A, Justice Osiagor issued the directive as its candidate for the constituency, to INEC.
Justice Osiagor ruled that the plaintiff did not violate Section 285 of the Electoral Act, which established a 14-day window for pre-election concerns, in ruling on the third defendant’s preliminary objection on the grounds that the subject is statute-barred.
The purported submission of the third defendant’s name to INEC on the 17th of June, which he learned about on the 18th of June, was what Shittu complained about, the judge ruled, adding that the plaintiff’s lawsuit resolves that window limitation.
It’s noteworthy that Shittu had not complained about the outcome of the election.
Justice Osiagor ruled that the party’s rules are subordinate to the Electoral Act in response to the third defendant’s contention that the plaintiff did not seek to resolve the disagreement through the internal mechanisms of the party as provided for in the party’s constitution.
He continued by saying that the party’s bylaws, which outline internal mechanisms for resolving disputes, cannot deny the Federal High Court the authority it was voluntarily granted by the Electoral Act.
As the INEC form was signed by representatives of the party in charge of the repeat election on June 6 and the primary election on May 24, the judge also ruled that neither action was justified.
He claimed that after winning the primary election, his name was declared in front of all party members who had watched and taken part in the election, and his name was then written down on the party’s official result slip.
According to Shittu, the third respondent’s petition caused the party to subsequently cancel the primary poll, which was then rescheduled and held on June 6.
He asserted that the primary poll was postponed because he and Awesu AbdulAzeez both received the same amount of votes, and based on that and in accordance with the party’s rules for primary elections to nominate its candidate, another primary election should be held.
He further stated that the party did not have a second round of voting but instead chose to nominate the third respondent to INEC as its candidate.
