Ambassador Fubara Dagogo paid ₦5.1 million to Nigeria's ruling party. He got a receipt. He never got the form.

Two days before Nigeria's ruling All Progressives Congress was scheduled to open its national convention, a Federal High Court in Abuja received a 13-relief originating summons that could stop it cold.

The plaintiff is Ambassador Fubara Dagogo, Director-General of the APC States Assembly Forum and an aspirant for the position of National Vice Chairman, South-South. The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/591/2026, was filed on March 23, 2026. It names four defendants: the APC itself, National Chairman Nentawe Yilwatda, incumbent National Vice Chairman (South-South) Victor Giadom, and National Organising Secretary Suleiman Mohammed Argungu.

According to court documents, Dagogo paid the mandatory ₦5.1 million required for nomination forms and obtained official clearance from the party's finance department.That clearance is referenced in the suit by a specific document: APC payment acknowledgement receipt No. 26827, dated March 13, 2026. The suit then asks the Federal High Court to interpret what that receipt legally entitles him to under Section 20(1)(A) of the APC Constitution.

The party, in Dagogo's account, gave him an answer he did not find convincing.

Speaking on Arise Television's Prime Time on Tuesday, Dagogo said that when he went to the organising department to collect his forms, he was told they had been exhausted. He said the party claimed only a limited number of copies had been printed. In a written petition to National Chairman Yilwatda filed before the lawsuit, Dagogo said he was repeatedly turned down at the office of the organising secretary without what he described as reasonable reasons, and warned that completing the forms requires a minimum of four days.

The petition did not produce the forms. The lawsuit followed.

What Dagogo Is Actually Asking the Court to Do

The originating summons contains 13 specific reliefs. The most consequential: a court declaration that by virtue of APC acknowledgement receipt No. 26827, Dagogo is entitled to expression of interest and nomination forms; an order declaring null and void any outcome of a South-South vice-chairmanship election conducted without his physical participation; and ₦100 million in general damages against the third and fourth defendants for what he described as embarrassment, discomfort and mental torture.

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That last figure is not symbolic. It targets Giadom and Argungu personally and jointly.

The suit also seeks a perpetual injunction restraining the defendants from conducting the South-South zonal congress, which was scheduled for March 25, 2026. Whether that hearing happened before the court acted is a separate question. As of the time of filing this report, the Federal High Court had not assigned a hearing date.

The defendants have 30 days from service of the summons to enter an appearance.

The Zoning Argument That Gives the Lawsuit Teeth

Dagogo's claim is not presented purely as a procedural complaint. There is a structural dimension.

On March 16, the APC announced that existing zoning arrangements for National Working Committee positions across geopolitical zones remain valid for the 2026 convention. Victor Giadom, the current National Vice Chairman for South-South, is from Rivers State. Dagogo is also from Rivers State.

A party source who spoke on condition of anonymity told ADBN TV that officials who have served two terms would not contest again. The source specifically identified Giadom among those who had completed two terms. If that account is accurate, the South-South vice-chairmanship position should be open for a Rivers State aspirant at this convention. Dagogo's lawsuit, read in that light, is not a long-shot challenge to a settled outcome. It is a challenge to what he characterises as an engineered process.

The form-withholding allegation extends beyond one candidate.

Dagogo told Channels Television that over 600 aspirants for national offices had not received their nomination forms despite making payments. A second aspirant, Oyiborume Paul Yovwe, who is seeking the National Secretary position, alleged that after paying ₦7.5 million for his form, the party's finance department refused to issue him an official receipt.

That is a different failure point in the same administrative pipeline. One aspirant has a receipt but no form. Another claims he cannot even get a receipt for his ₦7.5 million payment.

There were mounting concerns among party observers that the convention committee may have printed only single nomination forms for the offices of national chairman and national secretary, effectively intended for the incumbents alone. These are unverified concerns, but they were circulating inside the party before a single vote was cast.

As of publication, no on-record response from the APC, from National Chairman Nentawe Yilwatda, from Victor Giadom, or from Organising Secretary Suleiman Argungu has addressed Dagogo's specific allegations about the receipt and the withheld forms. The party's public posture heading into the convention has been administrative: aspirants who purchased and submitted nomination forms were asked to attend a screening exercise at Transcorp Hilton in Abuja on Tuesday.

That invitation, by definition, did not reach aspirants who never received forms.

FAQ

Does this lawsuit automatically stop the convention? No. Filing an originating summons is not the same as obtaining an injunction. The Federal High Court has not yet assigned a hearing date, let alone issued any restraining order. The convention continues unless the court acts. Don't conflate a petition with a ruling.

Why is Dagogo suing Giadom personally? Giadom is the incumbent, not the organising secretary. The suit targets Giadom as the third defendant and Argungu as the fourth, seeking the ₦100 million damages from them jointly. Dagogo has not publicly explained the precise legal theory for Giadom's personal liability. That will be tested once the court schedules a hearing.

Can the APC just ignore the lawsuit and hold the convention anyway? They can, and based on current scheduling they appear to be doing exactly that. But any outcome of the South-South vice-chairmanship election conducted before this case is resolved sits under a declared legal cloud. Dagogo is asking for nullification, not just compensation.

The next concrete moment in this dispute belongs to the Federal High Court in Abuja, which must still assign suit FHC/ABJ/CS/591/2026 to a judge and fix a date for hearing. Until that happens, the zonal congress result from March 25 stands but remains formally contested. The ₦100 million damages claim against Giadom and Argungu and the declaration sought under APC receipt No. 26827 are both unresolved. The convention will proceed on March 27 and 28. What it produces in the South-South may not be the last word.