The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has filed a preliminary objection to a suit instituted by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and a chieftain of the opposition party, Senator Dino Melaye.
The suit seeks an order of mandamus to compel the anti-narcotics agency to arrest and prosecute the President-Elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu over alleged forfeiture of some funds in his bank accounts over two decades ago in the United States.
The NDLEA submitted that the application by the PDP and Melaye is incompetent and that the court lacks jurisdiction to entertain it, and as such, should be struck out. The NDLEA said both PDP and Dino Melaye “do not have a locus standi, they do not possess an interest peculiar to them and above the interests of all other Nigerians, the only underlying specific interest of the 1st Applicant then becomes political in nature”. The Agency also argued that “Order of mandamus is an equitable remedy and should only be applied for in good faith and should not produce an indirect or underlying result.
The NDLEA claimed that the supposed cause of action of this suit as constituted is baseless and legally unsustainable because the foundation of the PDP application was the proceedings of the US District Court of the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division in the US, which was given “with prejudice”, adding that the said proceedings and judgment have no judicial value.