Seven states have decided to discontinue their case filed at the Supreme Court for an order to stop the Independent National Electoral Com...
The states are now planning to proceed to the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal, their counsel, Prof. Mike Ozekhome (SAN) has said.
The All Progressives Congress(APC) candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was declared the winner of the election.
The seven states which are Applicants/Plaintiffs in the suit are Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Taraba and Sokoto.
The Attorney General of the Federation was the sole defendant in the suit.
They filed their notice of discontinuation of the suit marked SC/CV/354/2023 pursuant to the inherent jurisdiction of the court through their lawyer, Prof. Mike Ozekhome (SAN) on Friday,March 3, 2023.
The application stated:"Take notice that the plaintiffs doth hereby wholy discontinue this suit against the defendant herein."
Their counsel, Prof. Ozekhome further stated the Supreme Court suit between the affected states and Attorney General of the Federation which was filed "during the flawed manual collation of results contrary to the clear provisions of the Electoral Act, the INEC Guidelines and Regulations and the manual for INEC officials, has been discontinued due to the fact that the flawed results have already been announced and a President-elect declared, albeit illegally and unconstitutionally."
He said since the exercise has been overtaken by events, the case will now be a tribunal matter.
The applicants former Notice of Motion was brought pursuant to the provisions of Order 2 Rule 28(1), Order 2 Rule 31 and Order 3 Rule 1of the SupyCiurt Rules1985 (as amended in 1999) and under the inherent jurisdiction of the honourable court as preserved by section 6(6)(A)(B) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended and filed before the apex court on March 2, 2023.
The plaintiffs, had sought an order for an accelerated hearing of the substantive suit.
They had also sought an order directing a departure from the Rules of this Court, in the interest of justice, by abridging the time within which the respondent herein may file and serve its counter Affidavit (if any) in this suit, to five (5) days from the date of service upon it of the Applicants’ process.
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