Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court Abuja has declined to nullify the candidacy of the Gombe State Governor Mohammed Inuwa Yahaya.
Delivering the ruling, Justice Nyako, dismissed an allegation that the Governor submitted forged documents to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in aid of his qualification.
The suit was brought before the court by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and two of its chieftains in the state, Muhammed Jibrin Barde and Timothy Danlele
The plaintiffs specifically alleged that the Governor lied on oath in documents he presented before the INEC.
They insisted that the Governor was inconsistent in the depositions he made on oath and therefore ought to be disqualified from participating in the gubernatorial election billed for March 11.
They equally prayed the court to restrain the 3rd defendant from parading himself as the governorship candidate of the APC in the state.
But the Counsel to the APC and the Governor, Mister Marshall Abubakar, challenged the competence of the suit, even as they persuaded the court to dismiss it for want of jurisdiction.
The defendants argued that PDP and its members lacked the locus standi (legal right) to institute an action to challenge the nomination of a candidate by another political party.
They argued that the plaintiffs failed to establish any reasonable cause of action, stressing that the suit had become statute-barred since it was not filed within 14 days after INEC published governor Yahaya’s name as a candidate for the election.
In her ruling on Tuesday, Justice Nyako upheld the defendants’ preliminary objection and struck out the suit for want of competence.
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