Appeal Court decides Nwaoboshi, Nwoko fates today
By Andrew Orolua, Abuja
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja will today hear the appeal filed by Senator-elect for Delta North Senatorial District, Peter Nwaoboshi, who is challenging the nullification of his nomination as candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court had while delivering judgment on a pre-election suit brought by Prince Ned Nwoko, nullified Sen. Nwaoboshi’s nomination as the PDP candidate for the February 23 polls.
Nwaoboshi in the appeal had asked the appellate court to set aside the judgment of the lower court which was delivered in error. He is contending that the trial judge over-reached himself by deciding the suit on the basis of highly contradicting and conflicting evidence.
According to the notice of appeal, the appellant is praying the court to hold that the trial judge erred in law when he held that the suit was not caught by the 14 -day rule in Section 285 (9) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) as the primary election conducted on October 2, 2018 and the 14 -day time allowed started running on the same day the primary election took place.
The appellant also prayed the Court of Appeal to hold that the trial judge erred in law when he held that he had jurisdiction to entertain the suit despite same being filed on December 11, 2018 because the first respondent had earlier filed a suit before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, which he withdrew and was struck out on December 11, 2018.
Specifically, as the said suit was caught by the same 14 -day rule in view of the filling of a preliminary objection by the appellant.
Therefore, Sen. Nwaoboshi is contending that the suit being challenged herein is not a continuation of the one before the High Court of the FCT, as the said suit before the High Court of the FCT was not transferred to the Federal High Court, Abuja, neither was it the same as the present one that judgment had been given.
Furthermore, he contended that the trial judge erred in law when he granted prayers in the originating summons in favour of the first respondent, thereby, replacing the first respondent with the appellant as winner of the primary election conducted on October 2, 2018.
