The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has dismissed a suit seeking to disqualify former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Olumide Anthony Akpata, as the gubernatorial candidate of the Labour Party (LP) for the September 21 governorship election in Edo State.
The appellate court upheld earlier decision of the Federal High Court Benin, delivered by Justice Babatunde Quadiri, which also dismissed the appeal filed by Kenneth Imasuangbon, an aggrieved aspirant in the party’s primaries, for lacking in merit.
Dissatisfied, Imasuangbon approached the appeal court seeking to disqualify Akpata as the LP gubernatorial candidate on the grounds of non-qualification to participate in the primary election.
He asked the Court to set aside the judgement of the lower court and declare him authentic candidate of the party, having come second in the primaries.
Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Okon Abang, said Imasuangbon failed to prove that there was miscarriage of Justice in Akpata’s victory at the primary election.
Abang held that the suit was premature as the appellant failed to internal mechanisms to resolve the conflict before heading to the court.
The three-man panel of the appellate court held that the appellant failed to tender the disputed results of the February 23 primary election of the party which he claimed to have won and did not call any witness among those who voted for him at the primaries.
The Court further said that Imansuangbon’s allegations that Akpata did not sign the Indemnity Form is statute-barred and therefore lacked jurisdiction.
“The suit is lacking in merit and is hereby dismissed” Abang held.
Recall that Akpata won the the LP governorship primaries held on February 23, 2024, polling 316 votes, to defeat his closest rival, Kenneth Imasuangbon who had seven votes, while Prof. Segun Eromosele got four votes to place third.