Court throws out suit challenging PDP congresses
Katsina State High Court on Friday struck out a suit filed by the Dr Mustapha Inuwa-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenging the conduct of the party’s ward, local government and state congresses held June last year.
Inuwa’s loyalists and those loyal to the Katsina 2023 PDP governorship candidate, Senator Yakubu Lado, had been locked in a legal battle over the conduct of the July and August 2024 PDP congresses held in the state.
The suit is seeking the court to restrain the party from conducting the congresses over their inability to access forms for the exercise.
The plaintiffs said they filed the suit on behalf of 7,905 other members of the party who were aggrieved with the way the congresses were conducted in the state.
The PDP, while defending the suit, filed a preliminary objection through its counsel, Mr Isaac Nwachukwu, praying the court to strike out the suit on grounds of lack of jurisdiction and competence by the plaintiffs to file the action.
In his ruling on the matter Friday, the presiding judge, Justice Abbas Bawale, struck out the plaintiffs’ application because the court lacks jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
According to Bawale, who cited several authorities on the matter, the party’s congresses were mainly internal affairs of the party which the court should not meddle into. He stated that the court only entertains cases bordering on grievances as a result of party primaries in accordance with the provisions of the nation’s Electoral Act, 2022, as amended.
Reacting to the ruling, the counsel to the plaintiffs, Mr. Mustapha Shitu-Mahuta, maintained that the state PDP congresses were illegally conducted with a gross violation of the party’s constitution. Mahita expressed his clients’ dissatisfaction with the judgment, vowing to challenge the judgment at the appellate court.
