The Federal High Court in Abuja has struck out a pre-election suit filed by Senator Ned Nwoko seeking to invalidate the emergence of former Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the forthcoming Delta North Senatorial election.
Justice Mohammed Umar delivered the ruling on Monday, holding that the case was fundamentally defective from the outset and could not be cured through an amendment.
The suit, marked FCT/ABJ/CS/1062/2026, named the APC, Okowa, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as defendants.
Nwoko had initially filed the action through Dr. Mike Nwoko, who was presented in the court documents as his lawful attorney. However, he later sought the court’s permission to amend the originating summons to indicate that the case had been instituted by him personally rather than through a representative.
The defendants opposed the application, insisting that the suit was incompetent from inception and that no amendment could remedy the defect.
In his judgment, Justice Umar agreed with the defendants after examining the originating processes.
According to the judge, the documents clearly showed that the action was commenced through an attorney, contrary to the requirements governing pre-election disputes.
Relying on Section 285(14) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Section 88(2) of the Electoral Act, 2026, Justice Umar held that only an aspirant who participated in the relevant party primary has the legal standing to institute a pre-election action.
He stated that, “the provisions were clear, explicit and unambiguous in vesting the right to institute a pre-election action in an aspirant who participated in the relevant party primary.”
The judge further stressed that the right to challenge the outcome or conduct of a party primary is personal and cannot be delegated.
According to him, “the right to challenge the conduct, outcome or validity of a political party’s primary election belonged exclusively to the affected aspirant” and “was a personal statutory right and not an ordinary civil claim that could be transferred, assigned or exercised through an agent.”
Justice Umar added that an aggrieved aspirant must personally approach the court in the manner prescribed by law, noting that neither the Constitution nor the Electoral Act authorises the filing of such actions through an attorney or representative.
He also rejected Nwoko’s request to amend the originating summons, ruling that the court could not validate a process that was void from the beginning.
According to the judge, “no amendment could ‘breathe life’ into an originating process that was already a nullity.”
He explained that a court can only grant an amendment where there is a valid and subsisting suit before it.
Justice Umar held that where an originating process is incompetent and incapable of conferring jurisdiction on the court, no subsequent amendment can retrospectively transform it into a competent action.
Consequently, the court dismissed Nwoko’s application for leave to amend the originating summons and struck out the substantive suit for want of jurisdiction, bringing the legal challenge against Okowa’s APC senatorial candidacy to an end.
