A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, presided over by Justice Muhammed Turaki, has cleared Dr. Dumo Lulu-Briggs to contest as the candidate of the National Democratic Party (NDC) in Rivers State.
A suit against the candidacy of Lulu-Briggs was instituted by Kings Unyeawaji, who later discontinued it, making the court consequently dismissed the matter, bringing it to an end.
Unyeawaji, an aspirant of the NDC, had filed the suit against the party, its chairman, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Lulu-Briggs, claiming that he was excluded from the party’s governorship primary.
He therefore prayed the court to nullify Lulu-Briggs’ emergence as the party’s candidate.
But the counsel to Lulu-Briggs, Ibim Dokubo, challenged both the jurisdiction of the court and the plaintiff’s locus standi, arguing that the plaintiff lacked the legal standing to institute the suit having not participated in the governorship primary.
Dokubo also argued that the statutory 14-day period within which complaints over party primaries had elapsed before the action was commenced.
In reaction to the judgement, the NDC guber candidate thanked the court for handling the matter speedily and for giving it clarity.
He said in a statement:”The suit against my candidacy, against our party, against the collective will of the people who stood behind me, has been dismissed.
“I want to thank Justice Muhammed Turaki and the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt for handling this matter with the speed and clarity it deserved. But I will not let this moment pass as just another legal victory.
“Look closely at how quickly this was resolved. That efficiency is not an accident. It is a preview. It tells you something about what we will bring to governance in Rivers State.
“No delays where delays are not necessary. No confusion where clarity is required. Just decisive action and quick solutions for the people who are waiting, sometimes for years, for their government to simply work.”
