The Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday struck out a suit filed by Senator Ned Nwoko, seeking to void the emergence of former governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, for the Delta North Senatorial District.
Justice Mohammed Umar, in a ruling, upheld the arguments by lawyers to the defendants, including Kehinde Ogunwumiju, SAN, that the suit was fundamentally defective and incompetent from its inception.
Justice Umar agreed with the defence argument that the originating summons could not be amended as sought by Nwoko.
Nwoko had commenced the suit, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1062/2026 in his name, but through a person described in the originating processes as his attorney, Dr Mike Nwoko.
At a point, Nwoko applied to amend the originating processes to reflect the pre-election suit as being personally commenced by himself rather than through his purported attorney.
But the defendants objected to the application.
Listed as defendants in the suit are the APC, Okowa and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Delivering the ruling, Justice after examining the originating summons, found that the suit was, indeed, commenced by Nwoko through his attorney, Nwoko.
The judge held that the form and content of the originating process showed that the suit was instituted in a representative capacity.
Relying on provision of Section 285 (14) of the 1999 Constitution and Section 88 (2) of the Electoral Act, 2026, which prescribe the category of persons entitled to commence a pre-election suit, Justice Umar held that “the provisions were clear,
