The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has fixed August 27, 2026, for hearing in a suit filed by aggrieved members of the Benue State chapter of the All Progressives Congress challenging their alleged substitution as validly nominated candidates for the 2027 general election.
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The matter, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1429/2026, was filed by Engr. Sesugh Kaaba and other aggrieved APC candidates from Benue State against the party and the Independent National Electoral Commission.
At the resumed proceedings, Justice Inyang Ekwo adjourned the case at the instance of counsel to the plaintiffs, Mohammed Ndarani-Mohammed, SAN, who sought time to respond to a preliminary objection filed by the APC challenging the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the suit.
The APC was represented by Matthew Burkaa, while INEC was represented by Oluwole Olukunle.
Justice Ekwo directed all counsel in the matter to file and exchange their processes before the next adjourned date, warning that any counsel who failed to comply with the directive would be penalised.
The adjournment followed an earlier order of the court directing the APC and INEC to maintain the status quo in the dispute over candidates who emerged from the party’s Benue State primaries.
The plaintiffs had, through an ex parte motion filed on July 5, 2026, sought six interim reliefs, including an order restraining the APC from substituting candidates they claimed were validly nominated during primaries monitored by INEC.
They also asked the court to compel the APC to transmit to INEC the names of candidates they said were validly nominated in the primaries.
When the matter first came up on July 8, the court declined to immediately grant the interim application and instead directed the APC and INEC to appear before it and respond before any ruling was made. The matter was then adjourned to July 16.
At the subsequent proceedings, counsel for the APC and INEC appeared before the court, while the plaintiffs were represented by Ndarani-Mohammed and his legal team.
Ruling on the application, Justice Ekwo held that since issues had been joined by the parties, particularly with INEC now before the court, the defendants were bound by law to preserve the subject matter of the litigation pending the determination of the suit.
When counsel to the plaintiffs urged the court to caution the APC and INEC against taking any step affecting the disputed list of candidates, Justice Ekwo said it was “not a matter of advice but of law,” stressing that the defendants were bound to maintain the status quo.
The court consequently restrained the APC and INEC from taking any action capable of altering the disputed list of candidates pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.
The defendants did not object to the restraining order.
The court also noted that all parties had voluntarily submitted to its jurisdiction by filing and exchanging processes, and held that there was no procedural or jurisdictional impediment to an expeditious determination of the case.
Justice Ekwo further ordered all parties to preserve the subject matter of the dispute and refrain from taking any step that could prejudice the rights of the parties or render the proceedings nugatory.
The court also directed that INEC be served forthwith with the originating and all consequential processes.
The effect of the subsisting order is that INEC is restrained from tampering with the existing list of candidates or from receiving, recognising or acting on any purported substituted list of National Assembly candidates from Benue State submitted by the APC, pending the determination of the suit.
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