The Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday dismissed a suit instituted by Fubara Dagogo, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), seeking to void the election of the party’s National Vice Chairman (South South).
Delivering judgement, the judge, Joyce Abdulmalik, held that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the case, which bordered on the internal affairs of a political party.
Ms Abdulmalik held that issues surrounding candidates’ nomination and purchase of nomination form, including expression of interest form, are non-justiciable.
The judge awarded a N10 million fine each against Mr Dagogo and his lawyer, making a total of N20 million in fine, in favour of all the four defendants.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Dagogo, an aspirant in the recently concluded APC national congress, had filed the suit to challenge his alleged exclusion from the party’s national convention election.
The plaintiff, through his lawyer, Ogochukwu Onyema, sued the APC and its National Chairman, Nentawe Yilwatda, the National Vice Chairman, South South, Victor Giadom, and the National Organising Secretary, Sulaiman Muitamma, as the defendants.
The suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/591/2026 and filed on 23 March by his lawyer, contains six prayers.
The aggrieved aspirant prayed the court to nullify the outcome of any party’s national congress for the position of National Vice Chairman, South South, without his physical participation.
He urged the judge to determine whether there could be a legitimate zonal congress for South South APC with his alleged unlawful exclusion after he was duly cleared and paid for his expression of interest (EoI) and nomination forms.
He prayed the court to declare that by virtue of APC’s Payment Acknowledgment Receipt No. 26827 dated 13 March and issued to him, he is entitled to be issued with the requisite Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms as an aspirant for the position of National Vice Chairman, South —South Nigeria.
He equally prayed the court to award a general damages of N100 million against the National Vice Chairman, South South, Mr Giadom, and the National Organising Secretary, Mr Muitamma, for the discomfitures, embarrassments and mental torture, they occasioned to him with their ill conduct.
But the APC, in its earlier preliminary objection filed by the former lawyer, Kayode Okunade, urged the court to strike out or dismiss the suit for want of jurisdiction.
Mr Okunade also prayed the court for an order striking out the originating summons filed by Dagogo as incompetent.
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The lawyer, in his eight-ground argument, said the subject matter of the suit bordered on the internal affairs of a political party, which was non-justiciable and outside the jurisdiction of the court.
He said Mr Dagogo’s complaint, relating to non-issuance of nomination form despite payment, concerned the conduct of party’s congresses and pre-primary processes, which were within the exclusive domestic jurisdiction of the party.
Mr Okunade argued that the applicant lacked the locus standi to institute the action, having not been duly recognised as a valid aspirant under the APC Constitution and Guidelines.
He said the suit was premature, the applicant having failed to exhaust the internal dispute resolution mechanisms provided under the party’s constitution.
The lawyer, who said the suit constituted an abuse of court process, aimed at inviting the court to interfere in the discretionary powers of a political party, argued that Mr Dagogo had not disclosed any reasonable cause of action against the respondents.