President Bola Tinubu is being sued by the Peoples Democratic Party in Akwa Ibom State for allegedly designating an All Progressives Congress member as the Independent National Electoral Commission’s resident electoral commissioner.
Aniekan Akpan, the state PDP’s chairman, and Harrison Ekpo, its secretary, filed the lawsuit, respectively, on Thursday.
They are contesting Etekamba Umoren’s appointment to the state’s REC position.
The Senate verified on Wednesday the nominations of seven of the ten RECs—among them Umoren—that the President had forwarded to it on Tuesday.
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/146/2023 filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja, the plaintiffs listed as defendants, Tinubu, the Senate and Umoren.
The plaintiffs attached to their originating summons coloured photographs of Umoren on campaign grounds wearing the APC clothes and also clips of him in APC dresses campaigning for the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
The opposition party chieftains are urging the court to declare that “the 1st defendant (President Tinubu) cannot present the 3rd defendant (Umoren) to the 2nd defendant (Senate) for confirmation as REC for Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.”
They are seeking a court declaration that “the appointment of the 3rd defendant as REC for Akwa Ibom State is unlawful, illegal, unconstitutional, null and void ab initio and of no effect whatsoever.”
The plaintiffs want the court to issue an order of perpetual injunction “restraining the Senate from allowing, permitting and/or confirming Umoren as a REC and a further injunction restraining Umoren from acting, assuming the office and/or parading himself as a REC for Akwa Ibom State.”
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.