A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN Wahab Shittu reacting to the Federal High Court judgement that nullified the Edo State PDP primary has emphasized the importance of determining when the suit was filed—whether it was before or after the primary.
He clarified that the suit was filed on the 8th of February, while the Edo PDP primary took place on the 22nd of February, indicating that the suit was initiated before the primary occurred. He further raised a critical question regarding the legal competence of the delegates to challenge the outcome of a primary.
He said in an interview with Channels TV, "What the Court has said is that there is a case of wrongful exclusion of 378 delegates. And because these 378 delegates were excluded, the entire primary is void and there was no primary. Now the question we should ask ourselves is when was this suit filed? Was it filed after the primary or was it filed before the primary?
The suit was filed on the 8th of February, while the Edo PDP primary itself took place on the 22nd of February. So it means that the suit was filed even before the primary. Now the next question is, who filed the suit? It was the delegates. Whether the delegates are competent by law to challenge the outcome of a primary is another issue."