Former Senate President Ahmad Lawan and the All Progressives Congress have challenged the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court in Abuja to entertain a suit disputing Lawan’s emergence as the party’s candidate for the Yobe North Senatorial District in the 2027 election.
The objection arose in a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1074/2026, filed by an aggrieved APC aspirant, Hassan Hussaini Kafayos, before Justice Salim Ibrahim.
Kafayos is challenging the APC primary election conducted on May 18, 2026, which produced Lawan as the party’s senatorial candidate.
Lawan and the APC, through their preliminary objections, urged the court to decline jurisdiction and dismiss or strike out the suit without considering its substantive claims.
The former Senate President and his party are contesting the competence of the action and the authority of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court to determine a dispute arising from a primary election conducted in Yobe State.
Kafayos had sued the APC, its National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, Lawan and the Independent National Electoral Commission as the first to fourth defendants, respectively.
In his originating summons filed on May 29, Kafayos alleged that he purchased and submitted the party’s expression-of-interest form and was subsequently cleared to participate in the primary election.
He claimed that when the election committee arrived at the designated venue at the Government Lodge in Gashua on May 18, he was informed that he had been disqualified and that only Lawan had been cleared.
According to him, no written notice or letter explaining his purported disqualification was presented to him.
Kafayos alleged that no direct primary or valid consensus election was conducted at the designated venue after police officers reportedly fired tear gas to disperse party members and prospective voters.
He further alleged that Lawan was subsequently affirmed as the party’s candidate by a few persons at the former Senate President’s private residence.
The claimant argued that his alleged exclusion violated Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution, provisions of the Electoral Act 2026, the APC Constitution and the party’s guidelines governing its primary elections.
He is asking the court to nullify the May 18 primary and restrain the APC from forwarding Lawan’s name to INEC as the party’s duly nominated candidate for Yobe North.
Kafayos also sought an order restraining INEC from accepting or publishing Lawan’s name and directing the party to conduct a fresh primary election or recognise him as its valid candidate.
He is additionally demanding N50 million in aggravated and exemplary damages from the APC, its national chairman and Lawan over his alleged wrongful exclusion.
The plaintiff maintains that the Federal High Court has jurisdiction because his complaint concerns alleged breaches of the Constitution, the Electoral Act and the APC’s electoral guidelines, rather than an ordinary internal party disagreement.
Justice Ibrahim is expected to determine the preliminary objections before proceeding to consider the merits of the substantive suit.
