The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party Peter Obi is asking a Federal High Court to dismiss a suit seeking his Disqualification for nominating his campaign manager Doyin Okupe as his placeholder.
The Peoples Democratic Party had las week asked the court to bar Obi from replacing Okupe as his running mate.
The PDP had also prayed the court to prevent the All Progressives Congress Presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, from replacing Kabiru Masari as his running mate.
In the suit, the PDP also asked the court to disqualify both Obi and Tinubu if they replace Okupe and Masari as their running mates.
But both candidates have replaced the placeholders.
While Obi picked Yusuf Baba-Ahmed as his running mate, Tinubu went for Kashim Shettima.
Responding to the originating motion, via a notice of preliminary objection, dated July 18, Obi’s counsel, Alex Ejesieme (SAN), is seeking an order of the court striking out or dismissing PDP’s suit “for want of requisite jurisdiction”.
The objection by Obi to the PDP’s prayers is based on four grounds.
“The plaintiff’s suit is speculative, conjectural in nature and devoid of hard facts, thereby divesting this court of jurisdiction to adjudicate over same”.
Next, Obi’s counsel said the PDP “has not disclosed any reasonable cause of action to activate the jurisdiction” of the court.
Obi’s counsel added that the PDP’s suit “is not situated within the jurisdictional confines of the Federal High Court”.
“The plaintiff’s suit is a gross abuse of court process,” Obi’s counsel added.
The PDP held that the term ‘placeholder’ is unknown to the Electoral Act and that Okupe had admitted publicly that he was a mere placeholder.