“Amaechi Withdraws Suit Against Atiku” — Court Strikes Out ADC Presidential Ticket Case

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has struck out a suit filed by former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, seeking to nullify the emergence of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as the African Democratic Congress presidential candidate for the 2027 general election.

Justice Joyce Abdulmalik struck out the suit on Friday after Amaechi’s counsel, Jibrin Okutepa, SAN, informed the court that the parties had resolved their differences and applied to discontinue the action.

When the matter was called, Okutepa told the court that an application formally withdrawing the case had been filed following the settlement reached by the parties. He consequently urged the judge to strike it out.

The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1215/2026, listed Atiku, the ADC and the Independent National Electoral Commission as defendants.

Amaechi instituted the action shortly after Atiku emerged as the ADC presidential candidate at the party’s primary election held on May 25, 2026.

He had challenged the legality and competence of the process that produced Atiku, alleging that the primary was conducted in violation of Sections 77(5) and (6) of the Electoral Act 2026, the ADC Constitution and Sections 2, 2.1 and 2.2 of the party’s guidelines for conducting primary elections ahead of the 2027 general election.

The former Rivers State governor raised five questions for determination and sought 11 reliefs from the court.

Among the reliefs was an order restraining Atiku from presenting or parading himself as the ADC presidential candidate for the 2027 election.

Amaechi also asked the court to restrain INEC from recognising Atiku’s nomination, claiming that he, rather than the former vice president, won the May 25 presidential primary.

In an affidavit he personally deposed to in support of the suit, Amaechi alleged that the entire primary process breached the Electoral Act, the ADC Constitution and the party’s published nomination guidelines.

He argued that the Electoral Act required every registered political party to maintain a digital membership register containing the names, sex, dates of birth, addresses, states, local government areas, wards, polling units, National Identification Numbers and photographs of its members in both electronic and physical formats.

According to him, political parties were also required to submit their membership registers to INEC no later than 21 days before the dates fixed for primaries, congresses or conventions.

Amaechi maintained that the ADC was required to use the submitted register to accredit voters during its presidential primary to ensure that only duly registered members were permitted to vote or be voted for.

He alleged, however, that the ADC did not use a membership register during the May 25 primary and instead relied on the procedure contained in Section 10.8(6) of its electoral guidelines.

The former minister further claimed that the party did not apply to INEC for a Certified True Copy of its membership register covering the states, wards and other electoral areas for accreditation during the exercise.

Amaechi said he participated in and monitored the primary election in the wards within his local government area.

He also questioned the validity of the final declaration of result form issued on May 27, alleging that the document was unsigned and contained no space for the names and signatures of members of the election committee responsible for preparing it.

He further alleged that the names and signatures of his agents were absent from the result form and that the document did not bear a date.

Amaechi said he subsequently wrote to the ADC National Organising Secretary requesting Certified True Copies of the membership register allegedly used to accredit voters during the primary.

According to him, the National Organising Secretary responded that no membership register was used for the election.

Amaechi said the response prompted him to submit a petition to the party’s Presidential Primary Appeal Committee pursuant to Section 11 of the ADC electoral guidelines.

He alleged that the appeal committee failed to communicate its decision on the petition, leading him to write to the party’s National Chairman, Senator David Mark, drawing attention to the unresolved complaints.

Amaechi maintained that he approached the court after the party leadership allegedly failed to address the issues he raised concerning the conduct and outcome of the presidential primary.

The Federal High Court did not determine the merits of the allegations because Amaechi voluntarily discontinued the case following the reported settlement.

The withdrawal comes after the ADC selected Amaechi, who finished behind Atiku in the presidential primary, as Atiku’s running mate for the 2027 election.