The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court on Wednesday dismissed a suit seeking to invalidate the nomination of Sen. Lawal Usman as Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate for the February 25 Kaduna State Central Senatorial election.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, Justice James Omotosho, in a judgment, held that the suit, filed by Ibrahim Usman, an aggrieved aspirant in the party’s primary held on May 23, 2022, was an abuse of the court process.
He further held that the matter, having been decided by an Appeal Court and subsequently affirmed by the Supreme Court, lacked merit.
The judge said that the plaintiff’s suit, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/333/23, was not statute-barred, having been filed within the 14 days prescribed by the law.
He, however, agreed with the defence that the subject matter of the instant suit was similar to the earlier one he filed before an FHC sitting in Kaduna, which the apex court had decided.
Omotosho said for a lower court to review the decision of a superior court did not go with “the doctrine of stare decisis,” and such a suit had been caught up by “the principle of res judicata.”
He, therefore, said Mr Usman’s suit constituted an abuse of the court process for asking the lower court to review the decision of the Appeal Court and the judgment of the Supreme Court.
The judge, who said instituting the case was like flogging a dead horse, said the court also found that the action was a deliberate attempt to turn the decision of the court over its head and to go into judicial rascality.
According to Justice Omotosho, no matter how incorrect a higher court judgment might be, it cannot be reviewed by a lower court.
He said the PDP primary poll conducted on November 7, 2022, against the primaries held on May 23, 2022, never existed, having been set aside by the apex court.
The FHC in Kaduna had, in its judgment in suit number: FHC/KD/CS/73/22, nullified the PDP primaries conducted on May 23, 2022, which produced the second defendant (Sen. Usman) as PDP candidate, and ordered a fresh poll.
The party had organised another primary on November 7, which produced the plaintiff as its candidate.
But an Appeal Court, in the appeal marked: CA/K/257/22 filed by the 2nd defendant (Sen. Usman) on December 19, 2022, set aside the trial court’s judgment that ordered for the November 7, 2022, primary election.
The Supreme Court, also in its judgment on February 17 on appeal number: SC/CV/1691/2022 filed by the plaintiff, affirmed the judgment of the Court of Appeal.
However, the plaintiff, unsatisfied with the decision, had sued the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mr Usman and PDP as first to third defendants, respectively, before Justice Omotosho of the FHC, Abuja.
In the writ of summons dated and filed March 10 by his lawyer, P.H. Ogbole, SAN, the plaintiff sought 14 reliefs, which include an order voiding the pronouncement made by INEC on February 28, declaring and returning the second defendant (Sen. Usman) as the winner of the Kaduna Central Senatorial District election.
He also sought an order directing the commission to issue and hand over to him a Certificate of Return in respect of the election as the validly elected candidate of the party, among others.
In his statement of claim, the plaintiff averred that he won the PDP primary poll conducted on November 7 to determine its standard bearer for the general elections.
But in his preliminary objection, the second defendant (Mr Usman) urged the court to dismiss the suit as an abuse of the court process.
He argued that the subject matter of the suit had been determined by the Supreme Court, which was predicated on who was the validly elected candidate of the PDP for the Kaduna Central Senatorial District at the general election.
