Court strikes out case against Kwara APC governorship candidate

The Federal High Court sitting in Ilorin, yesterday, struck out a suit by the Ishola Balogun-Fulani faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) seeking to nullify the nomination of its Kwara State gubernatorial candidate, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq.

Balogun-Fulani had filed the suit asking the Federal High Court to enforce a December 19 ruling of the Kwara State High Court, which had purportedly proclaimed him the authentic chairman of the party. But the Appeal Court had in a judgment on February 12, set aside the ruling of the state high court, holding that the court below lacked the jurisdiction to hear the Balogun-Fulani’s case in the first instance.

In that judgment, the appellate court also upheld the nomination of AbdulRazaq, affirming that only the National Working Committee of the APC had the powers to nominate candidates for elections. But in an argument before the Federal Court, counsel to Balogun-Fulani, Wahab Bamidele, urged the court to adjourn the matter till their appeal at the Supreme Court is decided. Counsel to AbdulRazaq, Jimoh Lawal, objected, urging the court to strike out the case for want of jurisdiction.

In a ruling yesterday, Justice Babagana Ashigar of the Federal High Court said it lacked jurisdiction to entertain a suit previously heard and decided by a court of coordinate jurisdiction and couldn’t hear a suit bordering on a judgment of the court of coordinate jurisdiction. He also held that since the same matter is already before the Supreme Court, there was no way the Federal High Court could hear it and struck out the case.