The Court of Appeal sitting in Ilorin, yesterday, upheld the nomination of Kwara State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and set aside the ruling of the state high court.
It declared that state high courts lack the powers to entertain any suit against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
In a unanimous decision on the interlocutory appeals filed by the APC, Justice Hamma Akawu Barka, who read the ruling, said that the originating summons by the Ishola Balogun-Fulani’s faction of the party was not sealed by the registry and that robs the court of jurisdiction.
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He therefore upheld all the four grounds of appeal filed by the APC and set aside the ruling of the Kwara State High Court which was given on October 24, 2018.
The court said that the nomination of AbdulRazaq by the APC National Working Committee (NEC) was in order.
It said that the State Executive Committee (SEC) of a party is just a branch of its national headquarters and so has no power or right to conduct any primaries to the offices of the president, governor, National Assembly or state assembly positions.
The appellate court also slammed the Kwara High Court for entertaining a suit against INEC on the matter since it has no jurisdiction on the matter.
The court upheld the four grounds of appeals and said the case of the Ishola Balogun-Fulani was defective in all ramifications because the originating summons was incurably defective.
