The Federal High Court in Abuja has struck out a suit filed by former Rivers State Governor and former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, challenging the emergence of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress 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 his client had filed an application to discontinue the case.
Okutepa told the court that the parties had settled their differences and urged the court to strike out the suit.
The development followed Atiku’s choice of Amaechi, who came second in the ADC presidential primary, as his running mate.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1215/2026, had Atiku, the ADC and the Independent National Electoral Commission as defendants.
Amaechi had approached the court seeking to set aside the ADC presidential primary election held on May 25, 2026, which produced Atiku as the party’s presidential candidate.
He had alleged that the primary election was conducted in breach of Section 77(5) and (6) of the Electoral Act, 2026, the ADC Constitution, 2026, and the party’s guidelines for the conduct of primary elections for the 2027 general election.
Amaechi also sought an order restraining Atiku from parading or presenting himself as the ADC presidential candidate for the 2027 presidential election.
He further asked the court to restrain INEC from recognising Atiku as the presidential candidate of the party.
The former minister, who claimed to be the legitimate winner of the primary, also prayed the court to compel the ADC to conduct a fresh presidential primary within 14 days of judgment in compliance with the Electoral Act, the party’s constitution and its primary election guidelines.
In an affidavit he personally deposed to, Amaechi said he was a duly registered member of the ADC at Ward 8, Ubima, Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, and a registered voter with the right to vote and be voted for.
He said he purchased the party’s presidential nomination form, was screened alongside other aspirants and cleared to contest the primary election.
Amaechi stated that he participated in the primary and appointed agents and coordinators to represent him at national, state and ward levels across the country.
According to him, the ADC published a final result on May 27, showing that Atiku scored 1,846,370 votes, while he polled 504,177 votes to come second. The result also showed that Mohammed Hayatu-Deen scored 177,120 votes to place third.
Amaechi alleged that the election process breached the Electoral Act, the ADC Constitution and the party’s published guidelines.
One of his grievances was that the ADC allegedly failed to use any membership register for the May 25 presidential primary, contrary to the requirement that political parties submit their membership register to INEC not later than 21 days before their primaries, congresses or conventions.
He claimed that instead of using a membership register, the party relied on the procedure contained in Section 10.8(6) of its guidelines.
He also alleged that the ADC did not apply to INEC for certified true copies of its membership register across states and electoral wards for use during accreditation.
Amaechi further claimed that the final declaration of result form published on May 27 was unsigned, undated and lacked columns for the names and signatures of members of the election committee.
He also said his agents’ names and signatures were not on the result form.
The former minister said he wrote to the National Organising Secretary of the ADC requesting certified true copies of the membership register used for accrediting voters during the primary.
He said the response he received was that no membership register was used for the election.
Amaechi said he thereafter petitioned the presidential appeal committee of the party pursuant to Section 11 of the guidelines for the conduct of the election.
He said he was invited by the committee, adopted his petition and submitted further written facts in support of it.
According to him, when no decision was communicated to him, he wrote to the party’s National Chairman, David Mark, drawing attention to the appeal committee’s failure to respond to his complaint.
He said the party’s failure to address his concerns led him to file the suit.
However, following the reported settlement of the dispute and his nomination as Atiku’s running mate, Amaechi discontinued the case.
Announcing Amaechi as Atiku’s running mate in June, ADC spokesperson Bolaji Abdullahi said the choice followed extensive consultations with party leaders, coalition partners, youth and women stakeholders, and representatives of all geopolitical zones.
