Godwin Tsa, Abuja
Abuja division of the Court of Appeal will today hear the appeal filed by senator-elect for Delta North Senatorial District and serving senator, Peter Nwaoboshi who is challenging the nullification of his nomination as candidate of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) by a Federal High Court in Abuja.
Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court had in his judgement on a pre-election suit brought by Prince Ned Nwoko, nullified Nwaoboshi’s nomination, though he won the senatorial district’s election of February 23, 2019.
Dissatisfied, Nwaoboshi approached the
the Court of Appeal to set aside the judgement of the lower court which he claimed was delivered in error.
He is further contending that the trial judge overreached himself by deciding the suit on the basis of highly contradicted and conflicting evidence, particularly as the ballot papers upon which the trial judge based his judgement were seriously controverted and ballot counting was impossible without calling a witness.
According to the notice of appeal, the appellant is praying the appellate court to hold that the trial judge erred in law when he held that the suit was not caught by the 14 days rule in section 285(9) of the Fourth Alternation to the 1999 Constitution (as amended), as the primary election, subject matter of the suit, was conducted on October 2, 2018 and the 14 days time allowed started running on the same October 2, 2018 when the primary election took place.
The appellant has also prayed the Court of Appeal to hold that the trial judge erred in law when he held that he had jurisdiction to entertain the suit despite the same being filed on December 11, 2018 because the first respondent had earlier filed a suit before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, which he withdrew and was struck out on December 11, 2018.
Specifically, as the said suit was caught by the same 14 days rule in view of section 285(9) Fourth Alteration to the 1999 Constitution (as amended) upon the filing of a preliminary objection by the appellant.