The Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday dismissed a suit filed by a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Fubara Dagogo, seeking to void the party’s recently conducted national congress.
NewsWatch Nigeria reports that Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, in her judgment, held that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter because it bordered on the internal affairs of a political party.
The judge held that issues relating to candidates’ nomination, purchase of nomination forms and expression of interest forms were non-justiciable.
Justice Abdulmalik struck out the suit and awarded ₦10m each against Dagogo and his lawyer, making a total of ₦20m, in favour of all four defendants.
Dagogo, an aspirant in the recently concluded APC national congress, had filed the suit to challenge his alleged exclusion from the party’s national convention election.
Through his lawyer, Ogochukwu Onyema, he listed the APC and its National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, as first and second defendants.
He also joined the party’s National Vice Chairman, South-South, Victor Giadom, and APC National Organising Secretary, Sulaiman Muitamma, as third and fourth defendants.
In the originating summons marked FHC/ABJ/CS/591/2026, Dagogo asked the court to nullify the outcome of any APC national congress for the position of National Vice Chairman, South-South, conducted without his physical participation.
He asked the court to determine whether there could be a legitimate zonal congress for the South-South APC after his alleged unlawful exclusion, despite being cleared and paying for the expression of interest and nomination forms.
Dagogo also prayed the court to declare that, by virtue of APC Payment Acknowledgement Receipt No. 26827 dated March 13, he was entitled to be issued the required expression of interest and nomination forms as an aspirant for the position of National Vice Chairman, South-South.
He further sought N100m in general damages against the third and fourth defendants for alleged discomfort, embarrassment and mental torture caused by their conduct.
The APC, in a preliminary objection filed by its former lawyer, Kayode Okunade, urged the court to strike out or dismiss the suit for lack of jurisdiction.
Okunade argued that the subject matter concerned the internal affairs of a political party and was therefore outside the jurisdiction of the court.
He said Dagogo’s complaint over the non-issuance of nomination forms despite payment related to the conduct of party congresses and pre-primary processes, which fell within the party’s domestic affairs.
The lawyer also argued that Dagogo lacked the locus standi to institute the action because he had not been duly recognised as a valid aspirant under the APC constitution and guidelines.
He further said the suit was premature because the plaintiff had not exhausted the party’s internal dispute resolution mechanisms.
Okunade described the suit as an abuse of court process and said it sought to invite the court to interfere in the discretionary powers of a political party.
