Nigeria court strikes down candidacy of opposition leader Abubakar

A Nigerian court Thursday declared invalid the nomination of Atiku Abubakar as the presidential candidate for the opposition African Democratic Congress, the party said, two months before the country's elections.

The party will appeal, its spokesman said, but the decision adds a legal headache with the January 16 vote right around the corner.

The ADC, one of the main opposition parties trying to oust President Bola Tinubu, has been mired in lawsuits around its leadership, which have now ensnared its 2027 nominee.

Earlier this year, the federal government backed a separate lawsuit over the ADC's eligibility to contest the 2027 vote.

The ruling is "another desperate attempt to cripple the opposition and deny Nigerians the right to choose their leaders in the forthcoming general elections," ADC spokesman Bolaji Abdullahi said in a statement.

The decision was handed down by the federal court in Abuja a day after Abubakar launched his campaign with a rally in Sokoto state.

"The judgment is legally indefensible" and will "be challenged through every available judicial process", added the statement, which blamed Tinubu's ruling All Progressives Congress of being involved in the lawsuit.

Tinubu spokesman Daniel Bwala told AFP the APC "is not involved at all" in the suit over the party's leadership that sparked Thursday's decision.

Nigerian media reported that the court overturned the current leadership of the ADC, led by David Mark, who has been fighting with Nafiu Bala Gombe over heading the party.

In ruling against Mark, the nomination of Abubakar -- made while he helmed the party -- has also been tossed, Nigerian media reported.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, which validated Abubakar's candidacy, did not respond to a request for comment.

If Abubakar cannot run, that would leave the election without any major candidate from the north -- a potentially disruptive development in a country where regional representation is a politically sensitive issue.

Abubakar -- popularly known simply as Atiku -- came second in the 2023 presidential contest, with 29 percent of the vote.

Tinubu won the election among a split opposition, taking the presidency with 36.6 percent of the vote.

Also running again this time around is Peter Obi, who finished third in the 2023 poll.

Abubakar, on his seventh go at leading Africa's most populous nation, promised "to make sure that security is restored in every part of this country" at a rally Wednesday in restive Sokoto state, which is under pressure from both jihadists and non-ideological criminal gangs.

He also promised to reinstate fuel subsidies as voters grind through a brutal cost of living crisis following economic reforms passed under Tinubu.