Court reserves judgment in Kogi APC senatorial seat dispute

The Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed November 19, 2026, for judgment in a pre-election suit challenging the emergence of former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, as the All Progressives Congress candidate for the Kogi Central Senatorial District.

The suit, filed by an APC senatorial aspirant, Chief Momoh Obaro, is against the APC, Bello and the Independent National Electoral Commission.

Obaro is challenging the outcome of the APC senatorial primary, contending that he won the exercise and should be the party’s candidate for the 2027 election.

Bello’s counsel, Paul Daudu (SAN), told journalists after proceedings on Monday that his client had challenged the competence of the suit, arguing that the dispute concerned the internal affairs of a political party and that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain it.

Daudu said the defence had adopted all the relevant processes filed in the case, including its preliminary objection to the suit.

He said, “One of the aspirants, who is a plaintiff, Mr Obaro, took His Excellency, the APC, and INEC to court, saying that he is the winner of the primaries that took place in the senatorial district during the conduct of the primaries, sometime earlier this year.

“So that is what the case is about. He’s essentially saying that he won, even though my client, and the second defendant, was declared the winner, overwhelmingly, with over 70,000 votes in the primary election.”

According to the lawyer, Obaro had also filed an affidavit out of time in response to the defence’s counter-affidavit and subsequently sought an extension of time.

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Daudu said the defence opposed the application on the grounds that the matter was election-related and time-sensitive.

He said the court decided to take the application alongside the other processes in the suit rather than rule on it separately.

On the preliminary objection, the lawyer said the defence had raised several grounds challenging the competence of Obaro’s case.

He said, “We are saying the court doesn’t have jurisdiction for several reasons, and he has conceded to some. Particularly, he asked for mandamus, which requires leave, which he didn’t ask for, and he has withdrawn that prayer.”

Daudu further alleged that some documents required to accompany the originating summons were not filed by the plaintiff and that Obaro’s written address exceeded the prescribed page limit.

He described those as “technical issues” raised by the defence while stressing that the central issue remained the challenge to Bello’s nomination.

The court subsequently fixed November 19 for judgment.

The ruling is expected to determine whether Bello’s emergence as the APC candidate will stand or whether Obaro’s challenge to the primary will succeed.