Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has dismissed a suit seeking the removal of Dr Abdullahi Ganduje as the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The plaintiff in the suit, APC North Central Group, prayed the court to remove Ganduje as the party’s chairman.
The court threw out the suit on various grounds.
Justice Ekwo held that the APC North Central Group is not a juristic person, having not been registered in law and therefore has no legal power and capacity to file the suit.
The judge also held that the plaintiff had failed to explore the internal mechanism for peaceful resolution of issues before rushing to the court.
Besides, Justice Ekwo held that the appointment of officers for APC by its National Executive Committee is an internal party affair that no court can interfere with.
The Northern Central APC Group had dragged Ganduje, APC, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) before the court, praying for the nullification of Ganduje’s appointment by APC on the grounds of gross violations of the party’s Constitution.
Specifically, the North Central APC group claimed that Ganduje’s appointment breached Article 13 of the APC Constitution because it was not made through the democratic process enshrined in the party’s law.
The plaintiff, the North Central APC Forum led by Saleh Zazzaga, had filed the suit to query the propriety of Ganduje’s appointment as the national chairman of the APC when he is not from the North Central geo-political zone, whose turn was to fill the position.
In the FHC/ABJ/CS/599/2024 suit, the plaintiff listed Ganduje, the APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the 1st to the 3rd defendants, respectively.
The plaintiff in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/599/2024 asked the court to, among others, restrain Ganduje from further parading himself as the chairman of the APC.
It also prayed the court to issue an order directing INEC not to accord recognition to all actions taken by the APC, including congresses, primaries and nominations, since Ganduje became APC Chairman on August 3, 2023.
The plaintiff contended, among others, that Ganduje is occupying the office of the APC chairman illegally and is not from a state in the North Central geo-political zone.
It argued that the APC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) breached the party’s constitution when it appointed Ganduje from Kano State in the North West geo-political zone to replace Abdullahi Adamu from Nasarawa State in the North Central geo-political zone.