Court Throws Out Suit Backing Kabiru Turaki-Led PDP Interim Committee

A Federal High Court in Abuja has struck out a suit seeking to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise and publish the Kabiru Turaki-led interim National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Justice Salim Ibrahim, in a ruling delivered on Friday, held that the plaintiffs, led by Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees, Senator Adolphus Wabara, lacked the legal standing to institute the action.

The judge consequently struck out the suit for want of jurisdiction after upholding a preliminary objection filed by INEC.

The court also sustained similar preliminary objections raised by parties seeking to be joined in the case.

Justice Ibrahim ruled that the plaintiffs failed to establish that INEC had recognised the purported interim NWC or that they possessed the legal authority to institute the suit on behalf of the PDP.

The case was filed to compel the electoral commission to recognise and publish the Kabiru Turaki-led interim leadership of the opposition party.

With the ruling, the court declined to entertain the substantive issues raised in the suit, holding that the plaintiffs lacked the requisite locus standi to maintain the action.