A lawsuit seeking to block former President Goodluck Jonathan from contesting the 2027 presidential election stalled Monday after no lawyer appeared for the plaintiff or the other defendants.
The suit, filed by lawyer Johnmary Jideobi before Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja, was called with only Jonathan’s counsel, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, present.
Uche asked the court to strike out the case for lack of diligent prosecution, saying Jideobi and his lawyer Ndubuisi Ukpai were absent without explanation.
“My Lord, what it means is that they have lost interest in pursuing the suit,” Uche said, adding that processes had already been exchanged and asking for a dismissal with substantial cost.
The judge asked the registrar to confirm service on INEC and the AGF, the 2nd and 3rd defendants.
Neither had been served.
Citing fair hearing, Justice Lifu declined to strike out the suit and adjourned to May 15 for a definite hearing.
“Let us give them time. Let this order be served on INEC because INEC is fundamental in this case,” he said, ordering that hearing notices be served on all parties for the last time.
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Jonathan, in a preliminary objection, argued Jideobi had no legal standing and said the suit was speculative and an abuse of court process. He also said the issues had already been settled by a subsisting judgment of the Federal High Court in Yenagoa and asked the court to strike out the case for want of jurisdiction.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2102/2025, was filed on Oct. 6, 2025, with INEC and the AGF joined as defendants.
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