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CHIMA CENTUS NWEZE, J.S.C. (Delivering the Leading Judgment): My Lords, notwithstanding the effervescent, although divergent submissions of counsel in this appeal, for reasons that would be evident anon, the only issue this court is actually confronted with and is therefore called upon to resolve orbits within a very narrow sphere. Simply put, it is the narrow question whether having regard to the host of conflicting averments and irreconcilable entries in the documentary exhibits, the Originating Summons was the proper procedural method for agitating the appellant's case at the trial Federal High Court (hereinafter, simply referred to the "trial court").
The sequence of events that prompted the parties' resort to litigation may be summed up thus. Pursuant to the relevant provisions of the Electoral Act and its Guidelines, the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP, for short), on December 7, 2014, conducted its primaries. The purpose of the exercise was to select its candidate for the Kogi Ea…