Campaign expenditure: Court asked to nullify Buhari, Atiku participation in Feb 23 Presidential poll
…Orders substituted service on APC, PDP
One of the Presidential candidates in February 23, 2019 Presidential election, Usman Ibrahim Alhaji, has commenced a legal action before the Federal High Court Abuja praying it to nullify President Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar participation in that election both having exceeded the maximum legally N1 billion allowed by the Electoral Act.
The Federal High Court Abuja on Tuesday, however, ordered service of court process on President Muhammadu Buhari and the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atuku Abubakar, through substituted means of service.
Buhari and Atiku, who were the candidates of All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), respectively, were ordered to be served through the legal department of the APC for Buhari and the legal department of the PDP for Atiku with processes.
The document is asking the Court for a determination of the question whether Buhari, APC and Atiku have brazenly and flagrantly violated the provision of Section 91(2) of the Electoral Act 2010 having exceeded the maximum legally allowed N1bn election expenditure through their extravagant campaigns.
The plaintiff, Abdulahi Bello, of the National Rescue Movement Party, who contested the February 23 Presidential election along with Buhari, Atiku and 69 others, is praying the Federal High Court to invoke Section 91(2) of the Electoral Act, 2010 to nullify the participation of Buhari and Atiku in the poll for allegedly violating the electoral laws.
Specifically, the plaintiff through his counsel, Ezekiel Vem Ofou, is praying the court to set aside the participation of Buhari and Atiku on the ground that they spent more than one billion naira each as campaign expenses.
Plaintiff claimed that by spending more than one billion each, Buhari and Atiku have violated the electoral law and are liable to be removed as contestants in the election.
When the matter came up on Tuesday, counsel to the plaintiff, Ofou told the trial Court judge, Justice Ahmed Ramat Mohammed, that he has found it extremely difficult to serve the court papers on Buhari and Atiku, who are the major defendants in the suit because of the retinue of security around them.
The counsel then moved an ex-parte motion in which he prayed Court for an order of substituted service on the two major defendants.
He predicated the ex-parte motion on Order 6 Rule 5 of the Federal High Court practice direction for permission to allow him serve Buhari and Atiku through the legal departments of their respective parties.
In a short ruling, Justice Mohammed granted the ex-parte motion and ordered that Buhari and Atiku be served with court processes through their respective political parties and adjourned the matter to March 26, 2019 for mention.
