Defection: Court Strikes Out Suit Seeking Saraki, 53 Other Lawmakers’ Sack

Hamilton Nwosa
Writer

Ad

Visualized: How U.S. Import Partners Have Changed Over Time

Key Takeaways China saw the largest decline, with its share of U.S. imports dropping by 7.7 percentage points from 2017 to 2024. Mexico (+2.2 pp), Vietnam (+2.0 pp), and Taiwan (+1.6 pp) recorded the largest gains in U.S. imports share. The United States’ trade relationships have shifted dramatically over the last decade, reflecting changes in…

Dangote’s CNG Trucks: Fuel Scarcity Looms as Tanker Drivers Commence Strike Monday

Nigeria is facing a looming fuel scarcity as workers under the auspices of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) have directed its Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) branch to suspend fuel loading at Dangote Refinery depots owned by Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, starting Monday, September 8, 2025. The New Diplomat gathered…

Visualizing the Magnificent Seven’s Foreign Revenue

Key Takeaways Meta earns the largest share of its revenue abroad at 62%, followed by Apple, at 57%. Alphabet and Tesla each generate 51% of their income from foreign markets, showing more balanced domestic-international splits. With $198 billion in foreign revenue, Amazon has the smallest share at 31%, yet in dollar terms this exceeds the…

Ad

The legislators targeted by the suit include the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, and a former Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio.

Delivering judgment on Friday, Justice Okon Abang held that the plaintiff which instituted the suit, the Legal Defence and Assistance Project, lacked the locus standi (the legal right) to institute the suit.

He held that LEDAP’s status as a registered corporate body under the Company and Allied Matters Act was not sufficient to confer the right to institute the action on behalf of the public.

He held that the plaintiff, not being the Independent National Electoral Commission, the political parties from which the legislators defected to the other ones, a member of any of the political parties, a member of the constituencies of the legislators or a registered voters in the lawmakers’ constituencies, it lacked the legal capacity to institute the action.

The judge held that despite the noble intention of the plaintiff, its lack of locus standi to file the action had robbed the court of the jurisdiction to consider the merit of its claims in the suit.

It added that the plaintiff’s failure to join the Peoples Democratic Party, the All Progressives Congress and the Action Democratic Congress which sponsored the elections of the defector legislators, was fatal to the suit.

Details later…

Ad

X whatsapp