By Peace Ojima Aboje
THE Honourable Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday voided the exclusion of a House of Representatives candidate for Fufore/Song Federal Constituency of Adamawa State, Boya Aliu Wakili, from the 2023 House of Representatives election.
The exclusion, carried out by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against the politician, was set aside on grounds of illegality, injustice and a breach of fundamental rights of the candidate.
Justice Egwuatu, in the judgment, ordered INEC to immediately upload onto its portal the name of the candidate having been found to have been unjustly excluded from the list of successful candidates published by the electoral body for 2023 general election.
The judge further held that INEC has no power to punish or suffer Wakili for “the network failure” suffered by the electoral body when his name was to be uploaded.
Wakili through his lawyer, Yemi Pitan, had dragged INEC, APC and its national chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, before the court challenging the refusal of INEC to publish his name for the House of Representatives election as required by law.
The plaintiff had averred that he won the primary election conducted by APC for the Fufore/Song Federal Constituency monitored by INEC’s representatives and his name duly submitted to INEC by APC on June 15.
He further told the court that he was surprised on June 24 when he found that his name was missing from the list of uploaded candidates by INEC and that upon inquiry, he was informed that it was due to network failure.
Wakili also averred that all efforts to make INEC to correct the said error due to network failure were resisted with INEC insisting that only court order can make it do so.
But INEC in its defense admitted that Wakili’s name was submitted but could not be uploaded into its portal during the period stipulated by law due to severe network failure suffered by the electoral body.
Having not been uploaded during the period, the electoral body said it opted to exclude him unless on express order of a competent court.
INEC through its counsel, Hassan Mohammed, urged the court to uphold the decision of his client.
Justice Egwuatu described the defense of INEC as funny and rejected it.
The judge further held that the action of INEC was a breach of the fundamental rights of the plaintiff who has valid interest and entitled to have his name uploaded and published as a candidate for the House of Representatives election.
Justice Egwuatu also ordered that all rights, privileges and recognition be accorded the plaintiff for the purpose of the 2023 general election. The judge however refused to award monetary compensation in favour of the plaintiff as damages or cost of litigation.
