The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Monday, ordered a substituted service of court documents Nentawe Yilwatda, the All Progressives Congress (APC) national chairman, and others.
The suit was filed by an aspirant, Fubara Dagogo, challenging his exclusion from the party’s national convention election.
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Judge Joyce Abdulmalik, who gave the order, adjourned the matter until 24 April for the hearing of all pending applications, including the preliminary objection filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Dagogo prayed the court in his suit to nullify the outcome of any party’s national congress for the position of National Vice Chairman, South South, without his physical participation.
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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.
The plaintiff, through his lawyer, Ogochukwu Onyema, named APC and Mr Yilwatda, who was re-elected the party’s national chairman at the party’s convention held in Abuja between Friday and Saturday, as defendants.
Other defendants sued by Mr Dagogo are Victor Giadom, the party’s national vice chairman, South South, and Sulaiman Muitamma, APC’s national organising secretary.
Mr Dagogo put forward six prayers in his suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/591/2026 and filed on 23 March.
He wants 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 interests and nomination forms as an aspirant for the position of National Vice Chairman, South-South Nigeria.
He equally wants the court to award general damages of N100 million against Mr Giadom, the party’s national vice chairman, South-South, and Sulaiman Muitamma, APC’s national organising secretary, both sued as the 3rd and 4th defendants, for “the discomfitures, embarrassments and mental torture, they occasioned to him with their ill conduct”.
But the APC, in a preliminary objection filed by its 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 suit filed by Mr Dagogo as incompetent.
The lawyer, in his eight-ground argument, said the subject matter of the suit borders on the internal affairs of a political party, which is non-justiciable and outside the jurisdiction of the court.
He said Mr Dagogo’s complaint, relating to non-issuance of nomination form despite payment, concerns the conduct of party congresses and pre-primary processes, which are within the exclusive domestic jurisdiction of the party.
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Mr Okunade argued that the applicant lacks 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 is premature, as, in his view, the applicant failed to exhaust the internal dispute resolution mechanisms provided under the party’s constitution.
The lawyer, who said the suit constitutes 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.
At Monday’s hearing, Mr Onyema informed the court of their inability to serve Mr Yilwatda, Mr Giadom and Mr Muitamma, necessitating the motion ex-parte for substituted service.
After moving the motion, the judge granted the applicant’s prayer for substituted service of all processes, including the originating summons, on Yilwatda, Giadom and Muitamma.
The judge also ordered that hearing notices be issued and served on the three defendants to ensure all parties appear in court for the next sitting.
(NAN)
