The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a suit seeking to restrain Mr. Haruna Audi from parading himself as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the 2026 Bwari Area Council chairmanship election.
Justice Emeka Nwite held that the suit, filed by Joshua Ishaku, was statute-barred, having been filed outside the 14-day limit prescribed under Section 285(9) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) for pre-election matters.
The judge ruled that the cause of action arose on June 30, when the APC National Working Committee (NWC) ratified the Primary Election Appeal Committee’s report and forwarded Audi’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“It is immaterial the date the plaintiff got the information. What is material is the date the action was done, and time begins to run thereafter,” Justice Nwite stated.
Ishaku had claimed he won the primary election conducted on June 25 and sought, among other reliefs, a declaration that forwarding Audi’s name to INEC was null and void, and an order directing APC to submit his own name as the candidate.
However, the court upheld Audi’s preliminary objection, filed by Mahmud Magaji (SAN), arguing that the suit was incompetent and filed out of time. Justice Nwite also faulted Ishaku for failing to exhaust internal party mechanisms for resolving disputes, noting that he did not respond to the party’s appeal committee invitation.
“This court is hereby robbed of jurisdiction to consider this suit. Accordingly, it is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction,” the judge ruled.
On the substantive matter, the court found that Ishaku failed to prove his allegations, and all supporting affidavits could not be relied upon unless the suit was refiled.
