The Federal High Court in Abuja Monday threw out a suit filed by Sen. Ned Nwoko, where he is seeking to nullify the emergence of Ifeanyi Okowa, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the Delta North senatorial district.
Okowa is the immediate past governor of the state.
The defendants in the suit are the APC, Okowa and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
In his ruling, Justice Mohammed Umar, held that the suit was incompetent from the outset because it was filed through an attorney rather than by Nwoko himself, ruling that the defect could not be cured by amendment.
The judge upheld the arguments of the defendants’ lawyers, including Kehinde Ogunwumiju, SAN, and rejected Nwoko’s request to amend the originating summons.
Nwoko had filed the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1062/2026, in his name but through a person identified in the court processes as his attorney, Dr Mike Nwoko.
He later applied to amend the originating processes to show that he had personally commenced the pre-election suit instead of acting through his attorney, but the defendants opposed the application.
Justice Umar examined the originating summons and found that the action was instituted through Nwoko’s attorney and therefore filed in a representative capacity.
Relying on Section 285(14) of the 1999 Constitution and Section 88(2) of the Electoral Act, 2026, the judge held that only an aspirant who participated in the relevant party primary has the legal right to institute a pre-election suit.
He ruled that “the provisions were clear, explicit and unambiguous in vesting the right to institute a pre-election action in an aspirant, who participated in the relevant party primary.”
The judge held that the right created by the Constitution and the Electoral Act is a personal statutory right that belongs exclusively to the affected aspirant and cannot be assigned or exercised through an agent or attorney.