Buhari escapes disqualification

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday adjourned till April 22 and 23, all the suits challenging the eligibility of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, to contest in the March 28 poll.

By implication, the court will not make any judicial pronouncement on Buhari’s eligibility till after the March 28 and April 11 elections.

Justice Adeniyi Ademola, after fixing the new dates for the suits, explained that his decision was informed by the court’s impending Easter holiday and the judges’ conference that would follow.

The judge fixed the new dates without entertaining suggestions from lawyers to the parties.

The plaintiffs in all the suits want the court to declare Buhari ineligible to contest in the presidential election on the basis of his alleged failure to submit his school certificate along with his Form CF001 to the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The judge fixed the new dates for the cases after he dismissed separate applications by two persons – Chukwuma Ochu and Ebun Olu-Adegboruwa – seeking to be joined as defendants in one of the suits.

The judge described the intending parties as “busybodies and meddlesome interlopers.”

...Punch