The Court of Appeal in Abuja has rejected a challenge by Arthur Esene and Anselm Ojezua, Edo State Peoples Democratic Party governorship aspirants, to disqualify Asue Ighodalo’s candidacy in the upcoming Edo State gubernatorial election on 21st September.
The court decision ends the internal party dispute over the PDP’s candidate selection for the upcoming vote and maintains Ighodalo’s eligibility to represent the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the Edo State governorship election.
In appeal number CA/ABJ/CV/863/2024, the appellants, had asked the court to overturn the April 17, 2024, judgment by Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which dismissed their suit for being statute-barred.
Justice Hamma Barka, delivering the lead judgment, affirmed the trial court’s decision on behalf of the appellate court.
The appellate court determined that Ojezua and four co-plaintiffs’ suit, submitted to the Federal High Court past the legal deadline. Consequently, the court ruled the case statute-barred dismissing their claim that Ighodalo had forged his voter’s card.
Furthermore, the court dismissed their case, finding it lacked merit. It determined that the absence of a voter’s card does not constitute sufficient grounds to disqualify a candidate from running for election.
The appellate court’s three-member panel also confirmed that the appellants did not dispute the trial court’s finding that Ighodalo had successfully transferred his voter registration from Lagos to Edo State and obtained a voter’s card from INEC.
Justice Barka subsequently dismissed the appeal, finding it lacked merit, and ordered the appellants to pay N3 million in costs to Ighodalo, the PDP, and INEC.
The other panel members, Justices Usman Musale and Okon Abang, concurred with the lead judge’s decision.
Details later…
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