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The Supreme Court has struck out the suit challenging the outcome of the national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) that produced former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as its presidential candidate for the 2023 election.

A presidential aspirant of PDP and former Deputy Abia Speaker Cosmos Ndukwe, who lodged the appeal had specifically challenged the refusal of the party to adhere to its zoning policy in the nomination of its presidential candidate for next year’s election.

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He had urged the apex court to ompel the PDP to uphold its zoning policy as enshrined in the party’s construction by nominating a southern candidate.

However, in a unanimous judgment on Friday, a five-member panel of the court, in a judgment on Friday, held unanimously that the court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the suit.

Justice Adamu Jauro, who read the lead judgment agreed with the lawyer to the PDP, Mahmud Magaji (SAN) that the issue of nomination of candidate for election was internal to the political party.

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The apex court equally held that issues raised in the suit were not justiciable on the grounds that the nomination of candidates for election is an internal affairs of any political party.

Specifically, the Presidential aspirant sought for order of the court to compel PDP to zone the nomination of its presidential candidate to the South East geo-political zone of the country.

However, Justice Jauro held that the suit was not justiciable on the ground that the nomination of candidates for elections is an internal affairs of political parties.

The Supreme Court invoked its powers under section 22 to give final resolution of all issues raised in the suit to prevent them from becoming statute barred.

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Justice Jauro held that the Court of Appeal was right in holding that the Federal High Court lacked jurisdiction to intervene in the matter.

(Sun)