The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a suit seeking to nullify former Cross River State Governor Donald Duke’s emergence as the 2027 presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party.
Justice Mohammed Umar, in a judgment delivered on Wednesday, held that the suit filed by an aggrieved PRP presidential aspirant, Yakubu Kingsley, was statute-barred and therefore could not be entertained by the court.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1234/2026, was dismissed after the court upheld preliminary objections filed by Duke and the PRP challenging its competence.
Justice Umar held that the case, being a pre-election matter, was filed outside the 14-day period stipulated by Section 285(9) of the Constitution.
According to the judge, the suit was filed on June 10, 16 days after the results of the PRP presidential primary held on May 25 were made public.
The court rejected Kingsley’s argument that the 14-day period should begin from June 6, when the party’s appeal committee communicated its decision dismissing his appeal.
Justice Umar consequently declined jurisdiction, ruling that the suit was statute-barred.
However, the judge went further to consider the substance of the case and dismissed Kingsley’s claims on their merits.
One of the major issues raised by the plaintiff was Duke’s alleged membership status at the time the PRP submitted its membership register to the Independent National Electoral Commission on May 4.
Kingsley had argued that Duke was not a registered member of the party at the time and was therefore ineligible to contest the May 25 presidential primary.
But Justice Umar held that membership of a political party is an internal affair of the party and is non-justiciable, meaning the court lacked jurisdiction to determine the issue.
The judge also rejected the plaintiff’s claim that Duke failed to comply with the party’s screening guidelines and should not have been cleared to contest the presidential primary because he allegedly did not appear personally for screening at the party’s national secretariat.
Justice Umar noted that although Kingsley relied on the PRP’s guidelines to support his claim, he failed to produce the relevant document before the court.
The court also dismissed the allegation of over-voting in Bauchi, Gombe and Kwara states, holding that Kingsley failed to provide sufficient evidence to establish the alleged irregularities as required by law.
Kingsley had asked the court to nullify the results from the three states, declare Duke’s emergence invalid and recognise him instead as the PRP’s presidential candidate for the 2027 election.
He also sought an order directing INEC not to recognise Duke as the party’s presidential flagbearer.
The court, however, dismissed the suit, clearing the way for Duke’s emergence from the May 25 PRP presidential primary to remain undisturbed by the case.
