Court Dismisses Ned Nwoko's Challenge to Okowa's Candidacy

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday threw out a case filed by Ned Nwoko. He wanted to cancel the selection of former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Delta North Senatorial District.

Justice Mohammed Umar delivered the ruling. He agreed with the lawyers for the defendants, including Kehinde Ogunwumiju, SAN, that the case was flawed from the start.

The judge said the request from Mr Nwoko to change the case details could not be accepted.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Mr Nwoko started the case, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1062/2026, under his name but through someone called Mike Nwoko, who he claimed was his attorney.

At one point, Mr Nwoko wanted to change the details to show that he personally started the case instead of through his supposed attorney. But the defendants did not agree to this change.

The defendants listed in the case included the APC, Mr Okowa, and the Independent National Electoral Commission.

In his ruling, Justice Umar looked at the initial case documents and found that Mr Nwoko indeed began the case through his attorney, Mike Nwoko.

The judge stated that the way the case was presented showed it was filed in a representative manner.

Justice Umar referred to Section 285 (14) of the 1999 Constitution and Section 88 (2) of the Electoral Act, 2026. These laws define who can start a pre-election case. He said, "the provisions were clear, explicit and unambiguous in vesting the right to institute a pre-election action in an aspirant, who participated in the relevant party primary."

The judge further explained that the right granted by the constitution and the Electoral Act is a personal right that belongs only to the aspirant affected, not something that can be passed on or done by an agent.

Justice Umar agreed with the defendants that the right to challenge the results or conduct of a political party’s primary election belongs to the aspirant who took part in that primary and feels wronged.

He stated that this aspirant must personally bring the case to court and cannot give that right to another person by power of attorney.

The judge also mentioned that if the constitution or the Electoral Act wanted to allow an aspirant to file a case through an attorney, it would have clearly stated so in the laws.

He pointed out that neither Section 285 (14) of the Constitution nor Section 88(2) of the Electoral Act allows an attorney to start a pre-election case.

Because of this, he rejected Senator Nwoko’s request to change the case details and ruled that an amendment could not fix a case that was already flawed.

Justice Umar emphasized that no amendment could make a case valid if it was already not valid from the beginning.

He added that there must first be a proper case before the court could allow any changes.

The judge concluded that the initial case was invalid and could not give the court the power to rule on it. An amendment cannot go back in time to create a valid case.

As a result, he dismissed Mr Nwoko’s request to change the initial case and struck out the main case due to lack of jurisdiction.