A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a suit that sought 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).
Delivering judgment on Friday, July 17, Justice Salim Ibrahim ruled that the plaintiffs did not have the legal standing to institute the action and therefore lacked the capacity to ask the court to grant the reliefs they sought.
The suit was filed by a group led by the Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees, Senator Adolphus Wabara.
In his ruling, Justice Ibrahim held that the case could not proceed because the court lacked jurisdiction, having found that the plaintiffs had failed to establish the legal basis for bringing the action.
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The judge upheld the preliminary objection filed by INEC and also sustained similar objections raised by parties who sought to be joined in the matter.
According to the court, the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate that INEC had recognised the purported interim National Working Committee led by Kabiru Turaki or that they had the authority to institute the suit on behalf of the Peoples Democratic Party.
On that basis, the court struck out the case for want of jurisdiction, bringing the legal challenge to an end at the Federal High Court level.