By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

ABUJA -The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, yesterday, challenged the jurisdiction of a Federal High Court in Abuja to compel it to void the candidacy of President Goodluck Jonathan on the ground that he was not validly nominated by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

The INEC made the challenge on a day it urged the high court to dismiss a fresh suit seeking an order of mandamus, compelling it to task the PDP to either respect the provisions of Article 7.2(c) of its constitution that created room for zoning and rotation of public offices amongst the six geopolitical zones in the country or risk not having a presidential candidate for the impending general election.

The suit was filed by an aggrieved presidential aspirant of the PDP, Alhaji Aminu Dutsinma.

Arguing through its lawyer, Mr Wale Balogun, INEC, yesterday, insisted that it was bereft of the locus to dictate to any political party the blueprint it should follow before conducting its primary elections, adding that it was satisfied with the process that saw President Jonathan’s emergence as the presidential flag-bearer of the PDP having monitored the exercise that took place at the Eagle Square, Abuja on January 13, 2010.

Meanwhile, the PDP which was represented in court yesterday by its national legal adviser, Chief Olusola Oke, also asked the court to dismiss the application that it said was incompetent.