An Abuja Federal High Court has postponed the hearing of Sen. Aishatu Dahoru suit challenging Fintiri’s victory until July 24, 2023, so that the court can address the substantive issue at hand.
In order to give the respondents time to show cause why the application should not be granted, the court issued an interim injunction on July 10, 2023, prohibiting the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from prosecuting Hudu Ari, the suspended Adamawa Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC).
The defendants were not served, so the court was unable to hear the motion.
The case was postponed until July 24 so that the defendants could be served with the original summons in open court, according to Justice Donatus Okorowo.
In a lawsuit with the file number FHC/ABJ/CS/935/2023, Binani named INEC, the Inspector-General of Police, and the Attorney-General of the Federation as his first through third defendants.
In the lawsuit, the petitioner is requesting an interpretation of Section 144 of the Electoral Act of 2022 as well as a preservation order to keep things as they are while the dispute is being decided.
Former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Chief Michael Aondoakaa, Binani’s attorney, called the court’s attention to the fact that the case was before a tribunal and had a deadline in the ex-parte motion that was previously submitted.
However, he said that Hudu Yunusa Ari, his client’s key witness, was being bullied and stopped from testifying before the tribunal, which, if it persisted, would endanger his client’s case there.
Then, he urged the court to stop harassing the key witness in the case contesting INEC’s pronouncement of Ahmadu Fintiri, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and governor of Adamawa, as the victor on Sunday, April 16, 2023.
According to the applicable laws, since Binani had already been declared by the INEC, the declaration could only be legitimately and legally overturned by a tribunal or a court of competent jurisdiction. According to Aondoakaa, all parties have joined their claims at the tribunal regarding the validity of the Plaintiff’s initial declaration and the INEC’s subsequent cancellation of it.