Aliyu V. Apc & Ors (2022)

LAWGLOBAL HUB Lead Judgment Report

TIJJANI ABUBAKAR, J.S.C.

This is an appeal against the judgment of the Court of appeal sitting in Makurdi delivered on the 15th day of December, 2021. The judgment of the Court affirmed the ruling delivered by the High Court of Justice Nasarawa State on the 8th day of October, 20211 wherein the trial Court struck out the action filed by the Plaintiff/Appellant for want of jurisdiction.

Just by way of summary of facts grounding this appeal, the Appellant commenced action against the 1st to 4th Respondents (as 1st- 4th Defendants) by originating summons challenging the primary elections conducted by the 1st Respondent on the 26th day of July, 2021 for the position of chairman Nasarawa Eggon Local Government of Nasarawa State. The Appellant felt aggrieved by the way the primaries were conducted because he satisfied all the requirements for participation in the primary elections to contest for the office of the Chairman Nasarawa Eggon Local Government but to his utter surprise and chagrin the Primary elections were conducted behind him through some manoeuvres and intrigues, he was side-lined, the primary elections produced the 3rd Respondent as the successful candidate of the 1st Respondent, the name of the 3rd Respondent was therefore submitted to the 4th Respondent as the successful candidate of the 1st Respondent.

The Plaintiff /Appellant took out originating summons on the 9th day of August, 2021 at the High Court of Justice, Nasarawa State, asking for some declarations and questions to be determined by the trial Court, the declarations and questions are therefore reproduced as follows:

1. A DECLARATION that the Primary Election organized and conducted by the 1st and 2nd Defendants in Nasarawa Eggon Local Government Council is null, void and of no effect whatsoever arising from an illegal structure of the party.
2. A DECLARATION that the 3rd Defendant is not validly nominated for Local Government General Elections scheduled for 6th October, 2021, as such any certificate issued to him by the 1st Defendants is null, invalid and of no effect whatsoever.

AN ORDER directing the 1st and 2nd Defendants to immediately withdraw the nomination of 3rd Defendant as candidate for Nasarawa Eggon L.G.C. in the proposed Local Government elections.

3. AN ORDER OF INJUNCTION restraining the 1st and 4th Defendant from dealing with, recognizing or continuing to recognize in any manner howsoever, acting on the name of the 3rd Defendant or holding out the 3rd Defendant as the candidate of the 1st Defendant for chairmanship of Nasarawa Eggon – Local Government Area for 6th October, 2021, Local Government, Elections.
4. AN ORDER restraining the 3rd Defendant from holding out or parading himself as the candidate of the 1st Defendant for Nasarawa Eggon Local Government Council for the Local Government Council General Elections scheduled for 6th October, 2021.
5. A DECLARATION that Caretaker Committees of Local Government Area and wards are not legally and democratically elected executives of the 1st Defendant, as such they cannot elect candidate for any election, therefore the exercise conducted by them is illegal, unconstitutional, null, void and has no effect whatsoever.
6. AND FOR SUCH FURTHER ORDER(s) as this Honorable Court may deem fit to make in the circumstance.

The Plaintiff then asked for the determination of the following three questions:

i. Whether having regard to the provision of Article 20(iv) (a) of the APC Constitution, the Caretaker Committee of the Local Government Area and wards constitute the electoral college of delegates democratically elected by members of the party for the purpose of nominating a candidate for an election.

ii. Whether there was at any time voting at the ward congresses to elect the members of the Electoral College to empowers them to participate at the nomination of candidate for election into the Local Government Council in compliance with Article 20(iv) (c & d).

iii. Whether by virtue of Article 20(iii) of the APC Constitution, the nomination of candidate for Local Government Council Elections can be done by consensus and not direct primary given the circumstance of the party at the moment.

At the trial, the 1st and 2nd Respondents filed notice of preliminary objection seeking to strike out the suit on four grounds. The grounds of objection at the trial were that, the Plaintiff had no locus standi to institute the action, that the suit was filed outside the 14 days period required, the action was therefore statute barred, that the plaintiff failed to include his National Identification Number in the originating summons thereby rendering the processes filed invalid, and that the Plaintiff had not exhausted the internal remedies for dispute resolution in line with the party Constitution. The 4th Respondent also filed notice of preliminary objection contending that there was no cause of action against it.

The matter was heard by the trial Court, the trial Court held that it had no jurisdiction to entertain the appeal, it was accordingly struck out. The Appellant became nettled by the decision of the trial Court and appealed to the lower Court, the Court of Appeal Makurdi Division. On the 15th day of December, 2021, the lower Court rendered a decision holding that it had no jurisdiction to entertain the appeal, the appeal was therefore accordingly struck out. The Appellant again became aggrieved and further appealed to this Court against the concurrent findings of the trial and lower Court. The appeal to this Court premised on three grounds of appeal was filed on the 22nd day of December, 2021.

The brief of argument of the Appellant was filed by learned Counsel M.M. Hirse, Esq., on the 25th day of January, 2022. In the Appellants brief of argument, learned Counsel nominated and argued three issues for determination, the issues are:

a. Whether the Court of Appeal was right in holding that it did not have the Jurisdiction to hear and determine an appeal challenging the primary election of the All Progressive Congress to the position of the Chairman of Nasarawa Eggon Local Government of Nasarawa State.

b. Whether having regards to the reliefs endorsed on the Originating Summons and the facts in the affidavit in support thereof, the Court of Appeal was right in striking out the Appeal against judgment of the trial Court on the ground that the Court of Appeal did not possess jurisdiction without hearing the parties and entering a decision on the Appeal before it.