A Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, Monday struck out a legal action challenging the nomination of Governor Muhammed Umaru Jubrilla of Adamawa State, as the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the 2019 general elections.
The suit instituted by a rival governorship aspirant and chieftain of the APC in the State, Mahmud Halilu Ahmed was struck out on the ground that it has become a mere academic exercise.
Justice Iyang Ekwo, in his ruling on a preliminary objection, agreed with Governor Jubrillla that the suit has become an academic exercise, saying that it would not confer any benefits to any of the two parties.
The judge added that since the governorship election had been conducted and winner declared, the issue of nomination for a party that had lost in the election was of no moment, having been overtaken by event.
Ahmed, who came second in the controversial primary election that produced Jubrilla as APC candidate, had instituted a case praying for disqualification of Governor Jubrilla on the ground that he supplied false information relating to his academic qualification to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
The plaintiff, through his counsel, Ubong Akpan, prayed the court to invoke section 177 of the 1999 constitution as amended and section 31 of the Electoral act 2010 to declare the nomination illegal, unconstitutional, null and void and, to bar the electoral body from accepting it.
Further, he applied for another order seeking to prohibit the APC from submitting Jubrilla’s name to INEC and that he should be used to substitute Jubrilla.
In his ruling, Justice Ekwo upheld the preliminary objection and agreed that there was no cause of action to pursue by the parties as he struck out the case.
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