The eligibility of former Attorney-General of the Federation and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate for Benue State, Chief Michael Kaase Aondoakaa (SAN), is currently being challenged at the Federal High Court 7 in Abuja. The suit, brought by the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) governorship candidate, Hon. Adagba Damian Iorhen, seeks to stop Aondoakaa from contesting the 2027 Benue State governorship election.
Proceedings in the matter, listed as APM versus Aondoakaa SAN, are ongoing at the Federal High Court in Abuja. The plaintiff is asking the court to disqualify or restrain Aondoakaa from participating in the poll, citing questions over his qualification under the law.
Aondoakaa, who emerged as the PDP candidate following the party’s primary on 24 May 2026 and received his certificate of return on 24 June 2026, has filed a preliminary objection seeking the dismissal of the suit. He argues that the action is statute-barred, having been instituted outside the mandatory 14-day window prescribed for pre-election matters under Section 285(9) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). He further contends that the plaintiff lacks the locus standi to challenge his nomination, noting that the APM candidate was neither a member of the PDP nor an aspirant in the party’s primary. Aondoakaa maintains that the constitutional grounds for qualification and disqualification of a governor are exhaustively set out in Sections 177 and 182 of the Constitution and cannot be expanded by judicial interpretation.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the PDP are also named as parties in the suit. Aondoakaa’s name has already appeared on INEC’s final list of candidates for the February 2027 governorship election alongside other contenders, including the incumbent Governor Hyacinth Alia of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The case forms part of a series of legal challenges surrounding Aondoakaa’s candidacy ahead of the 2027 polls. Supporters of the former justice minister insist that a 2021 Supreme Court pronouncement clarified that the issue of his qualification for public office does not arise, while opponents continue to rely on earlier judicial decisions. The matter remains before the court.
