The Court of Appeal in Abuja has thrown out an appeal seeking to disqualify candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Asue Oghodalo, from the upcoming governorship election in Edo State.
The appeal was filed by governorship aspirants Arthur Esene and Anselm Ojezua.
In a ruling, a three-member panel of the appellate court, led by Hamma Barka, dismissed the appeal marked CA/ABJ/CV/863/2024.
Esene and Ojezua had approached the appellate court seeking to overturn the judgment of the Abuja federal high court which dismissed their suit.
Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court dismissed their suit for being statute-barred.
Omotosho held that the plaintiffs had failed to prove their claim that Ighodalo forged his voter’s card.
The judge also added that non-possession of a voter’s card did not constitute a disqualifying factor under the constitution and Electoral Act.
In the lead judgment delivered by the court of appeal on Friday, Barka affirmed the lower court’s verdict.
Barka agreed that the suit was filed out of time and that the appellants failed to establish their claim that Ighodalo forged his voter’s card.
He held that the appellants failed to appeal the findings of the trial court, which found that Ighodalo applied to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the transfer of his registration from Lagos to Edo state, and that INEC issued a voter’s card to Ighodalo.
The court struck out the appeal for lacking in merit and proceeded to award N3million against the appellants and in favour of Ighodalo, PDP and INEC.
Other members of the appeal panel are Usman Musale and Okon Abang.
The gubernatorial election is slated for September 21, 2024.
