Reps ticket: Lagos aspirant’s suit against PDP, INEC, for hearing August 5

Justice Daniel Osiagor of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Wednesday  fixed August 5, for further hearing of a suit by an aspiran, Abdul Kareem Shittu against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and one other.

Shittu, who aspires to represent Ikorodu in Federal House of Representatives, also joined Mr. Awesu AbdulAzeez as respondent in the suit.

The plaintiff is praying the court for an order to restrain INEC from accepting or continuing to retain the name of the third respondent, (Awesu AbdulAzeez) as the PDP’s candidate for Ikorodu Federal Constituency in its database.

Shittu is also praying the court to declare that the nomination of Awesu AbdulAzeez as the PDP candidate was not in line with the party’s constitution and its guidelines for primary election.

He also wants the court to declare that the PDP is bound to nominate him and submit his name to INEC as its candidate, having won the highest votes cast during the party’s primary election conducted on May 24.

The suit was supported with a 28-paragraphs affidavit, detailing how the infraction was allegedly committed by the PDP against him and the party’s guidelines for primary election.

In the affidavit, Shittu averred that he participated in the primary election conducted by the PDP to elect its candidate for the House of Representatives in Ikorodu on May 24, 2022, and got the highest number of vote cast.

He averred that having won the primary election, his name was announced in the presence of all the party’s members who witnessed and participated in the election and his name was entered into the official result slip of the party.

Shittu stated the party later cancelled the primary election due to a petition written by the third respondent, and the party rescheduled the election following which it was held on June 6.

He averred that at the rescheduled primary election in which he and Awesu AbdulAzeez participated, both of them got the same number of votes and based on that and in line with the party’s guidelines for primary election to nominate its candidate, there should be re-run.

He added that the party didn’t conduct any re-run election but went ahead to nominate the third respondent as its candidate to INEC.