2023: Court dismisses ex-AGF lawsuit challenging Benue APC government candidate

On Thursday, the Federal High Court in Abuja dismissed a complaint challenging the appointment of Hyacinth Alia as the flag bearer for the governorship of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue State.

A former Federation Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Michael Aondoakaa, challenged the validity of the CPA primary election that produced Mr. Alia, a Roman Catholic priest.

The party had held its primary elections on May 26 and a rerun on June 9, with Mr Alia clinching the APC ticket for next year's gubernatorial ballot in Benue.

But Mr. Aondoakaa, Senior Advocate for Nigeria (SAN), argued that Mr. Alia's emergence was not in line with the provisions of the Elections Act 2022 and the APC constitution.

The former AGF questioned Mr. Alia's qualification to stand for election, saying that at the time of the primary he was not a valid member of the APC and that he was a employee of the Catholic Church.

Rendering judgment on the lawsuit on Thursday, Judge Ahmed Mohammed ruled that Mr. Aondoakaa's lawsuit was incompetent and time-barred, having been filed outside the 14 days allowed for bringing pre-election cases under of Article 285(9) of the Constitution.

Mr. Mohammed, while agreeing with the APC and Mr. Alia's objection, said that "the claimant (Mr. Aondoakaa) was aware of the APC primary, the validity of which he disputed, as early as on May 26, 2022, but elected to file his lawsuit on June 10, approximately 16 days after the cause of action arose, thereby acting outside the 14 days permitted under Section 285(9) of the Constitution .

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The judge found that Mr. Aondoakaa's decision to bring the action outside the statutory time limit deprived the court of its jurisdiction to hear the case.

As a result, Mr. Mohammed dismissed the complaint.

Similarly, Federal High Court Judge Kolowale Omotosho in Makurdi, Benue State, on Thursday dismissed another action challenging Mr Alia's candidacy.

The Benue Labor Party sued the APC and its gubernatorial candidate on the grounds that Mai Mala Buni, Governor of Yobe State, who constituted the National Executive Council which set up the committee to run the APC primaries that made Mr. Alia the candidate was illegal.

A statement from Mr. Alia's spokesman, Kulas Tersoo, said that Mr. Omotosho had dismissed the suit as "time-barred".

Responding to the rulings, Mr. Alia reportedly expressed "confidence in the judiciary to do justice to all court cases against his candidacy..."

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