Supreme Court strikes out PDP zoning suit

The Supreme Court has struck out a suit seeking to compel the Peoples Democratic Party to zone its nomination of presidential candidates to the southern part of the country.

The court, in a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Adamu Jauro, on Friday, struck out the suit on the ground that it lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit.

It was earlier reported that a presidential aspirant of the PDP, Cosmos Ndukwe who had sued the PDP; the Chairman of the party’s Primary Election Planning Committee, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, and others prayed that the primary election of the party is halted.

In a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/508/2022, Ndukwe had filed an ex-parte application, for an order to restrain the PDP from going ahead with the primary election until his suit was determined.

However, Justice Donatus Okorowo of a Federal High Court, Abuja declined to grant the ex-parte motion seeking to stop the planned primary election as argued by the plaintiff’s lawyer, Paul Erokoro, SAN.

Dissatisfied, he approached the Court of Appeal in Abuja with a request that the ruling of the high court should be set aside on grounds of jurisdiction and competence. The Court of Appeal in its decision of July 15 agreed with PDP and others that the FHC ought not to have entertained the suit on the ground of lack of requisite jurisdiction.

Ndukwe on his part felt dissatisfied with the Court of Appeal decision and proceeded to the Supreme Court. Justice Jauro in the Supreme Court decision, however, held that the Court of Appeal was right in holding that the FHC lacked jurisdiction to intervene in the matter.

However, rather than remitting the case to the High Court for the determination of the substantive matter, Jauro invoked Section 22 to give judgment, striking out the suit for want of jurisdiction, competence of the suit.

PUNCH/N.O