Appeal Court dismisses APM’s suit seeking to disqualify Obi

The Court of Appeal in Abuja dismissed an appeal by the Allied People’s Movement (APM) seeking to disqualify Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi from the upcoming election. In appeal CA/ABJ/CV/1414/2022, the APM argued that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should not have recognised Obi as a valid candidate because he defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the Labour Party (LP) in violation of sections 77(2) and (3) of the Electoral Act 2022. The APM contended that the LP had already submitted a list of its registered members to INEC before Obi’s defection, and since his name was not on that list, he should not be acknowledged as the party’s flag‑bearer. Consequently, the APM asked the appellate court to overturn the Federal High Court’s decision in Abuja, which had dismissed its suit challenging Obi’s candidacy.

A three‑member panel of Justices delivered a unanimous judgment that the appeal lacked merit. The court held that the trial court had no jurisdiction to hear the case because the APM did not have locus standi. However, the appellate court found that the APM’s suit was not an abuse of process and rejected the argument that it was statute‑barred. Obi resigned from the PDP on 24 May 2022, and INEC published his name as the LP candidate on 20 September 2022. The APM, a registered political party with its own presidential candidate, filed its suit on 30 September 2022—only 11 days after the publication—thereby falling within the 14‑day limitation under Section 285(9) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

The court emphasized that, under section 157 of the Electoral Act, only an aspirant may challenge a candidate’s nomination to INEC, and the APM did not qualify as an aspirant. INEC’s role is merely to publish the names submitted by political parties, and by doing so it complied with the Electoral Act. Moreover, the APM failed to produce the alleged register showing that Obi’s name was omitted from the LP’s submission, and therefore could not substantiate its claim.

As a result, the appellate court struck out the APM’s suit and all reliefs sought, awarding costs of ₦200,000 each to Peter Obi and the Labour Party. The judgment was delivered by a panel led by the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongbam‑Mensem, with Justices Danlami Senchi and Ugochukwu Ogakwu concurring.