Politics

Edo: Appeal Court Confirms Ighodalo’s Candidacy, Dismisses Esene’s Case

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has dismissed the appeal filed by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirants in Edo state. Arthur Esene and Anselm Ojezua which sought to disqualify the party’s candidate for the September 21, 2024 governorship election, Asue Ighodalo.

The aspirants, Esene and Ojezua, had in their appeal, requested the Court of Appeal to overturn  the April 17  ruling by Justice James  Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which dismissed their case for being time barred.

In his ruling, Justice Omotosho,  had held that not only did they fail to prove their claim that Mister Ighodalo forged his voter’s card, but non-possession of the voter’s card did not constitute a disqualifying factor under the Constitution and the Electoral Act to deny a candidate from contesting election.

In a unanimous ruling delivered by Justice Hamma Barka, the appellate court affirmed the judgment by Justice Omotosho and held that the suit filed before the Federal High Court by Ojezua and four others was filed out of time and statute barred.

Justice Barka also agreed with the decision of the Federal High Court that, not only did Ojezua and others fail to establish their claim that Ighodalo forged his voter’s card, but their suit was bereft of any merit because it was based on a flawed assumption that not possession of a voter’s card constitutes a ground to disqualify a candidate from contesting election.

The appellate Court that the appellants failed to appeal the findings of the trial court that Ighodalo applied to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the transfer of his registration from Lagos State to Edo State and that INEC issued a voter’s card to Ighodalo.

Justice Barka, after striking out the appeal for lacking merit awarded a cost of N3million against the appellants and in favour of Ighodalo, PDP and INEC.

 

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