By Isaac Mission
The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has struck out a suit filed by House of Representatives member Miriam Onuoha over the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket for the Isiala/Mbano/Okigwe/Onuimo Federal Constituency of Imo State ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Justice Salim Ibrahim dismissed the case after upholding a preliminary objection challenging the jurisdiction of the court.
The judge ruled that a court of coordinate jurisdiction had previously dealt with a case concerning the same subject matter. He consequently described the fresh proceedings as an abuse of the court process.
Onuoha had approached the Abuja court to challenge the recognition and upload of Uchenna Agasu’s name as the APC candidate for the federal constituency.
In her suit, she asked the court to reverse the purported upload of Agasu’s name on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) portal and direct the electoral body to recognise her as the party’s candidate.
She also sought an injunction preventing Agasu from presenting himself as the APC candidate for the constituency.
Agasu, through his lawyer, Paul Ananaba, urged the court to dismiss the case. He argued that a similar matter had already been determined by the Federal High Court in Owerri on June 25, and that the earlier decision remained valid.
According to him, allowing the Abuja case to proceed would effectively amount to asking another judge of the same court to reconsider an issue that had already been determined.
INEC told the court that it would abide by whatever decision was reached. The commission also explained that, under the current nomination process, political parties upload the details of their candidates directly through the access provided by INEC.
The commission stated that the candidate information uploaded by the APC on July 11 remained on its portal as of the time of the hearing.
In his ruling, Justice Ibrahim agreed that the Owerri proceedings and the Abuja suit concerned substantially the same subject matter. He therefore upheld the preliminary objection and struck out the case.
The court made no order as to costs.
The judgment was delivered on August 24, 2026, while a certified true copy was made available on Friday, September 4.