A Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed May 26 to rule on whether there is still live issue in the suit challenging the emergence of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the just concluded governorship poll in Sokoto State.
The Speaker, through his counsel, Jibril Okutepa, asked the court to dismiss the suit filed by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Human Rights, Senator Umaru Dahiru, challenging his candidacy as the APC governorship candidate in Sokoto.
Mr Okutepa stated that it had become an academic exercise, asking the the court to decline jurisdiction to hear and determine the suit.
He further stressed that the reliefs sought by Senator Dahiru which would have conferred utility value on the suit were no longer tenable, due to the occurrence of events.
Nevertheless, counsel to Senator Dahiru, Chief Awa Kalu, urged the court to hold the matter alive, insisting that there is a reasonable cause of action.
He said the plaintiffs were not indolent, just as he urged the court to invoke it’s powers to look into its records and exercise the power in order to determine whether or not, the plaintiffs were indolent as claimed by the defendants.
Senator Dahiru, however, asked the court to ascertain whether the procedure for the nomination and/or sponsorship of candidates for the elective offices recognised by the Electoral Acts 2010 was surly followed in the selection of the Mr Tambuwal.
