The Federal Prime Court docket in Abuja has pushed aside the Peoples Democratic Birthday celebration’s (PDP) try to nullify the September 2024 native executive elections in Kwara State.
The courtroom dominated that the birthday party may now not convert an previous pre-election swimsuit right into a contemporary problem to the end result of the polls.
Justice Peter Lifu, in a judgment at the swimsuit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1061/2024, held that the PDP had already participated within the election, pursued its grievances sooner than the proper election petition tribunals and did not enchantment the selections sooner than returning to the Federal Prime Court docket.
The pass judgement on stated the modification sought by way of the PDP essentially modified the nature of the unique case.
“The modification essentially altered the nature of the motion,” Justice Lifu held.
Day-to-day Agree with reviews that the case had its roots within the PDP’s felony effort to prevent the September 21, 2024 council elections performed by way of the Kwara State Unbiased Electoral Fee (KWASIEC).
The birthday party had to begin with requested the courtroom to restrain KWASIEC from engaging in the elections and save you the Unbiased Nationwide Electoral Fee (INEC) from liberating the nationwide electorate’ sign in to the state electoral frame.
Justice Lifu had in July 2024 granted an intervening time order restraining INEC from liberating the sign in to KWASIEC, however the order used to be due to this fact vacated sooner than the election.
The elections in consequence went forward around the state on September 21, 2024, with the PDP participating within the workout.
The birthday party later challenged the effects thru about 24 election petitions, in step with the judgment, however all of the petitions had been pushed aside and no enchantment used to be lodged towards the selections.
The felony setback adopted when the PDP returned to the Federal Prime Court docket and sought to amend its originating summons to incorporate a reduction asking the courtroom to nullify the native executive elections.
It used to be this transfer that Justice Lifu rejected, protecting that the modification successfully reworked the unique case from a pre-election dispute right into a post-election problem.
In line with the pass judgement on, the sort of problem belonged to the election petition procedure and may now not be offered thru an modification to an current swimsuit sooner than the Federal Prime Court docket.
“The courtroom lacked jurisdiction to begin as an election tribunal,” he dominated.
The judgment drew a difference between the felony treatments to be had sooner than an election and the ones to be had after an election has been performed.
Justice Lifu held that having participated within the polls and due to this fact pursued election petitions, the PDP may now not abandon the end result of that procedure and search considerably the similar reduction thru some other continuing.
“The plaintiff voluntarily participated within the stated elections, introduced election petitions, and failed in they all,” the courtroom held.
The courtroom additionally discovered that the amended case had grow to be statute-barred, which means that the PDP may not pursue the comfort it offered after the expiration of the appropriate statutory duration.
“Having been so reconstituted, the swimsuit used to be stuck by way of the statutory limitation duration,” Justice Lifu held.
The pass judgement on additional upheld the initial objection of the defendants that the PDP’s persisted pursuit of the topic constituted an abuse of courtroom procedure.
He stated permitting the birthday party to go back to the Federal Prime Court docket after the belief of its election petitions would quantity to the use of some other judicial procedure to relitigate problems that should had been decided during the prescribed electoral litigation process.
“It used to be impermissible for the plaintiff to go back, by the use of an amended originating summons, to hunt reliefs which it would not download during the election petition procedure,” Justice Lifu held.
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