THE Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has dismissed an appeal seeking to disqualify the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s candidate, Asue Ighodalo, from the forthcoming governorship election scheduled for Saturday, September 21.
The appeal was initiated by the party’s governorship aspirants, Anselm Ojezua Arthur Esene.
Counsel for the appellants appealed to the court to set aside the April 17, 2024, judgment delivered by Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on the grounds that it was erroneously dismissed as statute-barred.
However, delivering the lead judgement on Friday, September 6, the judge, Hamma Barka, sustained the decision of the trial court.
The appellate court upheld the lower court’s ruling, dismissing Ojezua and four others’ suit as statute-barred, having been filed out of time.
Additionally, Barka concurred that the appellants failed to substantiate their allegations of voter card forgery against Ighodalo.
The appellate court further held that the case lacked merit, as it relied on the erroneous premise that lacking a voter’s card automatically disqualifies a candidate.
The three-member panel noted the appellants didn’t contest the lower court’s finding that Ighodalo had applied for voter registration transfer from Lagos to Edo State and received a new voter’s card from INEC
Barka struck out the appeal, ruling it lacked merit, and directed the appellants to pay N3 million in costs to Ighodalo, the PDP, and INEC.
The two other judges on the panel, Usman Musale and Okon Abang endorsed the lead judgment.
The ICIR reported that Ighodalo, a former chairman of Sterling Bank, who is backed by the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, emerged as the winner of the Edo PDP primary election in February 2024.
He scored 577 votes in the primary to beat his closest rival, Shaibu, who scored one vote while other candidates scored zero votes.
The INEC scheduled the state governorship election for Saturday, September 21, 2024.
A reporter with the ICIR
A Journalist with a niche for quality and a promoter of good governance