Rivers state governor Nyesom Wike has filed a lawsuit against Atiku Abubakar, the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party over the outcome of the party’s primary.
Mr Wike filed the lawsuit before the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court. Michael Ekamon is a co-plaintiff in the suit while the PDP, Governor Aminu Tambuwal and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are the defendants in the matter.
People Gazette reports that the parties were served on July 1, and a PDP official responded to the originating summons on August 5 in Abuja.
Wike lost the primary to Atiku after Tambuwal unexpectedly stepped down in the middle of the race.
He scored 237 votes to trail Mr Abubakar, who polled 371 votes from the total 767 votes cast at the convention ground
All attempts by the party to end the feud between Wike and the Atiku have failed and will likely affect the chances of the party in the 2023 general election.
The governor had last week upon his return from Spain accused the former vice-president of telling lies about him.
Wike and Ekamon urged the court to grant nine reliefs including a declaration that the purported transfer of Tambuwal’s votes to Atiku be declared null and void.
The plaintiffs are also seeking a declaration that the PDP acted negligently and in bad faith by assigning the Sokoto governor’s votes to Atiku at the primary.
They prayed the court to “cancel the transfer of votes and a corresponding order restraining the 3rd respondent (Tambuwal’s) withdrawal in the primary was done after voting had commenced.”
The applicants also prayed the court to declare that the PDP and Atiku took undue advantage of Tambuwal’s withdrawal when they allowed the Sokoto governor to persuade delegates to vote for the former Vice-President in the primary.
Nyesom Wike and Newgent Ekamon asked the court to order INEC to reject or remove Atiku from “its list of candidates in the 2023 presidential election.
They are also seeking an order commanding the PDP to recount the votes of the primary that was held on May 28 and May 29.
Lastly, the applicants are seeking an order of the court “directing the 1st respondent (PDP) to declare the 2nd applicant (Wike), a presidential aspirant in the May 28 and May 29 primary as the winner of the aforesaid primary with a corresponding order directing the 1st respondent (PDP) to forward his name as the candidate to contest the presidential election in 2023.”
