APC’s Yobe North ticket heads to court as July 20 hearing date is fixed.

The Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed July 20, 2026, for the hearing of a suit challenging the emergence of former Senate President, Senator Ahmad Lawan, as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the Yobe North Senatorial District ahead of the 2027 general election.

Justice Salim Ibrahim fixed the date after counsel to the plaintiff, Francis Mgboh, informed the court that efforts to serve court processes on two of the defendants had not been successful.
The plaintiff, Hassan Kafayos, an APC senatorial aspirant, is seeking an order nullifying the APC primary election conducted on May 18, 2026, which produced Lawan as the party’s candidate for the district.
Joined in the suit as defendants are the APC, its National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, Senator Ahmad Lawan, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
When the matter came up on Thursday, only counsel to the plaintiff, Francis Mgboh, and counsel to the APC, Adedayo Adedeji (SAN), were present in court.
There was no legal representation for Prof. Yilwatda, Lawan, or INEC. Mgboh informed the court that while all the defendants had been served except Lawan, the former Senate President had allegedly evaded service despite repeated attempts by the court bailiff.
The lawyer disclosed that an ex-parte application had already been filed seeking leave to serve Lawan through substituted means.
Responding, Adedeji stated that he had instructions to represent only the APC. He argued that although the plaintiff claimed the APC and its national chairman were served on the same day, the law requires personal service on the second defendant unless an order for substituted service is obtained.
Mgboh subsequently sought leave of the court to extend the pending ex-parte application for substituted service on Lawan to also cover Prof. Yilwatda.
Justice Ibrahim declined the request and directed the plaintiff’s counsel to file a separate ex-parte application for substituted service on the APC national chairman.
The court thereafter adjourned until June 29 to hear the applications for substituted service on Lawan and Yilwatda, while fixing July 20 for the hearing of the substantive suit.
The judge also directed all parties to file and exchange their court processes before the next adjourned date.
In the suit filed on May 29, Kafayos is asking the court to declare that his alleged exclusion from the APC primary election violated his constitutional right to freedom from discrimination as guaranteed under Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution.
He further contended that the APC breached provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 and the party’s constitution regulating democratic procedures in the conduct of primary elections.
The plaintiff is seeking an order restraining the APC and its national chairman from forwarding Lawan’s name to INEC as the party’s candidate, as well as an order preventing INEC from accepting or publishing his name.
He also urged the court to compel the APC and INEC to conduct a fresh primary election for Yobe North Senatorial District or, alternatively, recognise him as the duly nominated candidate of the party.
In addition, Kafayos is asking the court to award him N50 million as aggravated and exemplary damages for what he described as his wrongful exclusion from the primary election.
In an affidavit supporting the suit, the plaintiff stated that he duly purchased and submitted the APC Expression of Interest form, participated in the screening exercise, and was cleared to contest the primary election.
According to him, on the day of the primary election in Gashua, Yobe State, the party’s election committee announced that only Lawan had been cleared to contest and informed him that he had been disqualified without any formal notification.
Kafayos alleged that party officials told him the directive came verbally from APC leadership because Lawan was the party’s “anointed candidate.”
He further claimed that the announcement triggered protests by his supporters and that security personnel dispersed the gathering with teargas before any primary election could take place.
The plaintiff also alleged that the election committee later relocated to Lawan’s private residence in Gashua, where a small group of persons reportedly affirmed the former Senate President as the APC candidate.
Maintaining that no valid primary election or consensus process took place at the designated venue, Kafayos argued that the exercise violated the Electoral Act, the APC constitution, and the party’s internal democratic procedures.
He told the court that after exhausting the party’s internal dispute resolution mechanisms without success, he sought judicial intervention, urging the court to nullify the primary election and order a fresh exercise or declare him the validly nominated APC candidate for Yobe North Senatorial District.