Appeal Court To Hear Suit Against Jonathan’s Sole Candidacy Oct. 20 - Politics

The Court of Appeal will on October 20 hear an appeal challenging the adoption of President Goodluck Jonathan as the consensus presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of next year’s general election. The application was filed by a former PDP governorship aspirant in Adamawa State, Dr. Umar Ardo, who has indicated interest in contesting the presidential election on the platform of the party. Ardo is urging the appeal court to grant him leave, as an interested party, to be joined in an earlier suit decided at the high court between one Cyriacus Njoku, a member of PDP, and Jonathan, so as to use the particulars of the case to challenge the president’s emergence as PDP’s sole candidate. Njoku had in suit no. FCT/HC/ CV/2449/2012 at the Abuja High Court contested Jonathan’s eligibility for the February 14, 2015 presidential election, having been sworn in twice as president. But the court ruled on March 1 last year that Jonathan was eligible to contest the 2015 presidential election. Njoku appealed the ruling, but the appeal is yet to be decided. Now Ardo wants to rely on the particulars of the case to sue the president and his party for adopting him as sole candidate for the coming presidential election. Documents obtained from the Court of Appeal at the weekend by THISDAY in appeal no CA/A/574A/M2013 stated, “Take notice that the above mentioned motion appeal/judgement has been listed for hearing before the Court of Appeal Abuja sitting at the 3 Arms Zone on Monday, October 20, 2014 at 9am.” The notice of appeal, dated October 10, was signed by the Senior Registrar of the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal. Ardo is urging the Court of Appeal to quash the September 18 resolution of the PDP National Executive Committee that endorsed Jonathan as the sole presidential candidate of PDP in next year’s election. The endorsement had followed similar approvals by the PDP Governors’ Forum and the party’s Board of Trustees. Ardo claimed that his fundamental human rights as a Nigerian and a financial member of PDP had been breached by such endorsement of Jonathan by the NEC and other organs of the party. In the appeal filed September 23 by Dr. Amuda Kannike (SAN) and Doueyi Fiderikumo on behalf of Ardo, he alleged that the decision of the lower court raised “grave points of constitutional law and jurisprudence that is the first of its kind in Nigeria.” The affidavit deposed to by Ardo read, “I am desirous of contesting the election to the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which is slated to hold on or before February 2015 and my desire is mainly built on my conviction that the president would not be eligible to contest the said election which would have cleared the way for a free and fair level playing ground contest for the party primaries.” Meanwhile, PDP on Friday commenced the sale of nomination forms to aspirants wishing to vie for positions in the coming general elections. The national headquarters of the party in Abuja was yesterday thronged with chairmen of the party from states across the country, who had came to collect the forms for all categories of aspirants except those for the governorship. However, there were indications at the weekend that All Progressives Congress might have finally resolved to conduct an open primary election to pick its presidential candidate for next year’s election. The decision to jettison the idea of a compromise candidate followed discussions by the presidential aspirants and leading power brokers in the party to try to agree on a power-sharing arrangement that would reduce the winner-takes -all tendency and its potential acrimonies. The party also appears to have brought forward to November its presidential primary earlier scheduled for December 2. At a meeting Thursday night at the Rivers State Governors Lodge, in Abuja, stakeholders of the party were said to have unanimously agreed to go ahead with primaries, resolving to set aside all considerations for a consensus candidate or automatic ticket. They also reaffirmed the party's position to commence the sale of presidential nomination forms on October 13. Former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari, ex-Vice President Atiku Anubakar, Kano Sate Governor Rabiu Kwakwanso, former Kwara State Governor Bukola Saraki, Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha, and newspaper publisher Sam Nda-Isaiah are the major presidential aspirants in APC. The party’s NEC recently adopted the modified direct primaries. But this has caused division between the camps of Buhari and Atiku. While Buhari and his supporters have called for the adoption of a consensual arrangement as stipulated in Article 20 of the APC constitution and section 87(6) of the Electoral Act, as amended, Atiku has insisted on allowing contestants to face each other in a transparent presidential primary. A source within APC told THISDAY in confidence that the plan to move the presidential primary to November was to enable the party tackle the internal dissensions, including the fallouts of the national convention. The source said, “As part of the logistic plans, it is the general consensus that the December 2 date is too close to enable a genuine reconciliation meeting on the outcome of the presidential primary election. The consensus is that the National Executive Committee will meet not later than Tuesday to agree on the modalities for the shift from December 2 to second week of November. “In the meeting of the caucus last week, where the idea to revisit some of the modalities of the presidential primary was discussed, it was agreed that no presidential primary would go without conflict. So the idea of an earlier date is to give room for reconciliation, hence the decision to shift the date to November.” www.thisdaylive.com/articles/appeal-court-to-hear-suit-against-jonathan-s-sole-candidacy-oct-20/191077/