Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a lawsuit aimed at preventing Barrister Asue Ighodalo from being nominated as the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) candidate for the upcoming Edo State governorship election.
Naija News reports that the court, during a session on Wednesday (today), dismissed the case brought forward by a dissatisfied candidate for the PDP’s governorship position, Anselm Ojezua, citing that it was filed prematurely on March 6.
In his ruling on the matter, Justice Egwuatu noted that Anselm Ojezua had not exhausted the PDP’s internal processes to address his grievances before seeking legal action.
Justice Egwuatu concurred with the lead attorney for Ighodalo, Akinlolu Kehinde, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria SAN, who argued that Ojezua’s decision to bypass the PDP’s Appeal Panel in resolving his dispute before filing the lawsuit was a violation of the PDP’s rules.
Ojezua had filed a lawsuit against Ighodalo, the PDP, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), seeking an order to nullify the February 22 primary election that selected Ighodalo as the PDP’s gubernatorial candidate.
His complaint centred on the alleged gross violations of the Electoral Act 2022 and PDP’s guidelines during the primary election at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City.
In particular, Ojezua alleged that a forged and compromised list of delegates was used in the indirect primary election.
However, Justice Egwuatu determined that, given the requirement for any candidate aggrieved by the electoral process to first explore the internal dispute resolution mechanisms before resorting to legal action, Ojezua was obligated to follow this process like any other candidate.
“In a matter of this nature, conditions precedents must be respected and complied with by any aspirant as had severally enunciated by the Supreme Court in all its decisions”, the Judge said.
Naija News recalls that on February 22, Ighodalo, who is both a lawyer and an investment banker, clinched the position of the PDP governorship candidate after defeating his competitors in a primary election held at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium.
It is widely believed that Governor Obaseki favoured Ighodalo, who received 577 votes to outdo his opponents, including Barrister Anselm Ojezua, Arthur Esele, Osaro Onaiwu, Martins Uhomoibhi, Hadizat Umoru, and Felix Akhabue, who all received zero votes. Additionally, six votes were nullified out of the 585 delegates who were accredited.
He was officially recognized as the victor by the Chief Returning Officer of the Edo PDP Gubernatorial Primaries and Zamfara State’s governor, Alhaji Dauda Lawal.