Court Strikes Out Amaechi’s Suit Challenging Atiku’s ADC Primary Victory After Withdrawal

Court Strikes Out Amaechi’s Suit Challenging Atiku’s ADC Primary Victory After Withdrawal

The Federal High Court in Abuja has struck out a suit filed by former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, challenging the emergence of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar as the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), following the withdrawal of the case by the plaintiff.

Justice Joyce Abdulmalik struck out the matter on Friday after Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), counsel to Amaechi, informed the court that his client wished to discontinue the suit.

Okutepa told the court that the parties had resolved their differences, prompting the application for withdrawal, which the court granted.

Amaechi had approached the court after rejecting the outcome of the ADC presidential primary held in May, alleging widespread irregularities and voter disenfranchisement.

Atiku emerged winner of the exercise with 1,846,370 votes, defeating Amaechi, who secured 504,117 votes, while former Managing Director of the defunct FSB International Bank, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, polled 177,120 votes to finish third.

Before the declaration of the results, Amaechi had accused the party of conducting a flawed process, alleging that the outcome was being "concocted" and failed to reflect the will of party members.

In his suit, the former governor argued that the primary violated Sections 77(5) and 77(6) of the Electoral Act, 2026, the ADC constitution, and Sections 2, 2.1 and 2.2 of the party's guidelines for the conduct of primary elections ahead of the 2027 general election.

He sought an order restraining Atiku from presenting himself as the ADC's presidential candidate for the 2027 election and asked the court to bar the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from recognising Atiku's candidacy.

However, the legal challenge became largely academic after the party, in June, announced Amaechi as Atiku's running mate for the 2027 presidential election, signalling a reconciliation between the two political figures.

With the withdrawal of the suit and the court's decision to strike it out, the legal dispute over Atiku's nomination has formally come to an end.