The Court of Appeal in Abuja has affirmed Asue Ighodalo as the authentic candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the forthcoming September 21 governorship election in Edo State.
The Court upheld the earlier decision of the Federal High Court, Abuja which dismissed appeals filed by Arthur Esene and Anselm Ojezua, both aspirants in the February 22 primary elections of the party, seeking to disqualify Ighodalo from flying the party’s flag at the election.
The three-man panel of the appellate court, led by Justice Hamma Barka, dismissed the suit for being statute barred.
Esene and Ojezua had, in the appeal marked CA/ABJ/CV/863/2024, prayed the appellate court to set aside the April 17 judgment by Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which dismissed their suit for being statute barred.
Justice Omotosho held that the appellants failed to prove their claim that Ighodalo forged his voter’s card, adding that non-possession of a voter’s card is not a factor to disqualify a candidate according to the electoral act.
Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Hamma Barka, held that the Federal High Court was right to dismiss the appeal, having been filed out of time and statute barred
The court held that the appellants failed to appeal the findings of the trial court that Ighodalo indeed 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 proceeded to strike out the appeal for lack of merit.
He also awarded a cost of N3m against the appellants and in favour of Ighodalo, PDP and INEC.