By Camillus Eboh
ABUJA, Nov 5 (Reuters) - A Nigerian court on Thursday voided the nomination of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress for January's election, dealing a blow to one of the main opposition challengers.
Nafiu Bala Gombe, a former ADC national deputy chairman, had asked the court to nullify the process that produced the party's leadership, arguing that its officials were not elected through a national convention.
The judge set aside all processes that led to the emergence of the party executive as well as Atiku's nomination as the party's presidential candidate.
The ADC rejected the ruling, describing it as a politically motivated attempt to weaken the opposition following a large campaign rally in the northwestern city of Sokoto, and said it would launch a challenge at the Court of Appeal.
"We have seen this script before. When they are scared that the opposition is gathering steam, they use their judges in the courts to influence legally indefensible judgments," ADC spokesperson Bolaji Abdullahi said in a statement.
The ruling comes days after President Bola Tinubu formally launched his own re-election campaign in the northern city of Kaduna, where he sought to persuade voters that painful economic reforms were beginning to yield results despite a persistent cost-of-living crisis.
Nigeria has seen an incumbent president lose only once, in 2015, when Goodluck Jonathan conceded defeat to the late Muhammadu Buhari following an opposition merger.
Atiku, vice president between 1999 and 2007, was the runner-up in the last election and had won the ticket to represent the ADC in May in what was going to have been his seventh presidential bid.
He and Peter Obi, who came third last time, had been seen as the main opposition challengers.
(Writing by Chijioke Ohuocha;Editing by Alison Williams)