A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a suit filed by the Action People’s Party (APP) that sought to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct elections to replace 27 members of the Rivers Assembly. These lawmakers were alleged to have defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in December 2023.
In a judgment delivered on Friday, Justice Peter Lifu ruled that the suit was not only barred by statute but also constituted an abuse of court process.
Justice Lifu pointed out that while the 27 lawmakers, believed to be loyal to the Federal Capital Territory’s Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, allegedly defected in December, the APP filed the suit on July 12, nearly eight months after the cause of action arose. He ruled that the case was statute barred, having not been filed within the legally required 14-day period.
In determining that the suit represented a gross abuse of court process, Justice Lifu noted that numerous prior cases concerning the alleged defection of these 27 lawmakers had been resolved by the Federal High Court, all of which were dismissed due to insufficient evidence of defection.
He referenced a judgment by Justice James Omotosho, also of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which was issued in July and prohibited INEC from declaring the lawmakers’ seats vacant or conducting any fresh elections to replace them.
