Supreme Court dismisses suit challenging Jonathan’s eligibility in 2015 Election

The Supreme Court today dismissed an application filed by a PDP chieftain, Dr. Umar Ado, seeking to be joined in a suit challenging the eligibility of President Goodluck Jonathan to stand for the 2015 Presidential election. The nation’s apex court had scheduled today, December 16, as the date when hearing of Umar’s appeal will be entertained, in order to beat the December 18, 2014 deadline fixed by INEC for political parties to submit the names of its candidates. Continue...

The Supreme Court had in the meantime promised to hear a motion filed by the PDP chieftain, Dr. Ardo Umar, challenging the decision of the Court of Appeal, Abuja division, last month that shut him out of the substantive suit. The appellant, Dr. Umar Ardo, had sought to be joined as an interested party in a suit instituted by Cyriacus Njoku challenging President Jonathan’s eligibility to participate in the 2015 election as a candidate.

Dr. Umar in his appeal prayed for accelerated hearing of his suit, even as he asked for an abridgement of time to file his briefs of argument before the apex court.

It will be recalled that a panel of three justices of the Court of Appeal had in a unanimous decision delivered recently described Dr. Umar Ardo as a busy body and meddlesome interloper for seeking to join in the case filed by Cyriacus Njoku.

Before then, Njoku had approached an Abuja High Court in 2012 to stop Jonathan from re-contesting in 2015, but Justice Mudashiru Oniyangi, on March 1, struck out the suit on account of lack of jurisdiction.

Cyriacus Njoku in 2013 went ahead to institute an action in the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja seeking a declaration that the tenure of office of President Goodluck Jonathan, that is, the first Defendant, began on May 6th, 2010, when his first term began and his two terms shall end on May 29, 2015 after taking his second Oath on May 29th, 2011.

Acting through his counsel, Amuda Kannike, the appellant prayed for an order of injunction restraining Jonathan from further contesting or attempting to vie for the office of the President of Nigeria after May 29, 2015 when his tenure ends. He raised five questions for the court to determine and sought seven reliefs, among which was an order of perpetual injunction, restraining the AGF and INEC from accepting as candidate in the 2015 presidential election, anybody caught by “two previous election limit and eight year term limit.”