PDP loses bid to nullify Kwara LG elections

The Peoples Democratic Party’s attempt to overturn the last local government elections in Kwara State suffered a setback on Tuesday as the Federal High Court in Abuja dismissed its case against the polls.

Justice Peter Lifu dismissed the action after finding that the party had already participated in the elections, challenged their outcomes through election petitions and failed to appeal the decisions before returning to the Federal High Court with an amended case.

The judge held that the fresh relief sought by the PDP could not be pursued through the suit because it had effectively changed from a pre-election action into a post-election challenge.

“The amendment fundamentally altered the character of the action,” Justice Lifu held.

The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1061/2024, was instituted against the Independent National Electoral Commission and the Kwara State Independent Electoral Commission.

The PDP had initially sought to prevent KWASIEC from conducting the council elections and to stop INEC from releasing the voters’ register to the state electoral commission.

But the elections went ahead while the case remained before the court, following an earlier order directing that the status quo be maintained.

Rather than remaining outside the electoral process, the party participated in the polls and subsequently filed about 24 petitions against the results.

The petitions were all dismissed, according to the judgment, while the PDP did not appeal any of the decisions.

It was after those unsuccessful petitions that the party sought to alter its case before the Federal High Court and introduce a claim asking the court to nullify the elections.

Justice Lifu rejected that route, holding that the Federal High Court could not acquire the powers of an election tribunal through an amendment to an existing suit.

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“The court lacked jurisdiction to start as an election tribunal,” the judge ruled.

The court also found that the timing of the amended claim presented another legal obstacle, holding that it had become statute-barred.

“Having been so reconstituted, the suit was caught by the statutory limitation period,” Justice Lifu held.

The judge further agreed with the preliminary objection filed by the defendants that the PDP’s continued pursuit of the matter amounted to an abuse of court process.

According to the court, the party had already chosen the electoral petition route after participating in the council polls and could not subsequently seek substantially the same outcome through a different proceeding.

“The plaintiff voluntarily participated in the said elections, presented election petitions, and failed in all of them,” the court held.

Justice Lifu said the party could not use an amended originating summons to recover remedies that were no longer available to it after the conclusion of its election petitions.

“It was impermissible for the plaintiff to return, by way of an amended originating summons, to seek reliefs which it could no longer obtain through the election petition process.

“Such conduct amounted to an attempt to re-litigate, by a different route, matters that ought to have been ventilated exclusively before the appropriate election tribunals,” Justice Lifu held.

The Federal High Court consequently dismissed the PDP’s suit, leaving its attempt to nullify the Kwara council elections unsuccessful.