By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, sitting at Kubwa, Friday, cleared the coast for the All Progressives Congress, APC, to go ahead with its national convention billed for March 26.

The court, in a ruling that was delivered by Justice Bello Kawu, vacated the order of interim injunction that barred the ruling party from proceeding with its planned convention.

The interim order had followed a suit that was lodged before the court by an aggrieved member of the party, Salisu Umoru.

The plaintiff, had among other things, prayed the court to direct the APC and its Chairman caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, Governor Mai Mala Buni, to halt further action on the planned convention, pending the resolution of legal cases involving the party.

He equally sought an order directing Buni to begin reconciliation process to resolve all the disputes that emanated from the local government congresses that were conducted by the party.

Based on an application by the plaintiff, the court, issued an interim injunction that restrained the APC from proceeding with the convention.

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Meanwhile, dissatisfied with the order, APC approached the court with a motion to set it aside.

The APC and Governor Buni, through their lawyer, Shuaibu Aruwan, SAN, challenged the jurisdiction of the court to stop the scheduled convention.

They argued that the court was bereft of the powers to meddle in the domestic affair of a political party.

Likewise, counsel to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Alhassan Umar, SAN, contended that section 84 of the Electoral Act, prohibited the court from stopping the primary election of a political party.

Even though the plaintiff’s lawyer, Mike Enahoro Eba, insisted that the defendants’ motion to set aside the interlocutory order, was not ripe for hearing, he was however overruled by the court on yesterday.

While granting the defendants’ motion to vacate the interim order, Justice Kawu, held that the plaintiff lacked the locus to sustain the restraining order.

The court held that the order of injunction it issued against the APC on November 18, 2021, has been overtaken by a recent judgement the Supreme Court delivered on a similar matter.

It, however, fixed March 30, to hear the plaintiff’s substantive suit.

Vanguard News Nigeria