The Court of Appeal, Abuja division, on Friday, dismissed an appeal by the Edo State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirants, Arthur Esene and Anselm Ojezua, seeking to disqualify the party’s candidate, Asue Ighodalo, from the forthcoming governorship election on 21st September.
The appellants, in appeal number CA/ABJ/CV/863/2024, had asked the court to overturn the April 17, 2024, judgment by Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which dismissed their suit for being statute-barred.
In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Hamma Barka, the appellate court upheld the decision of the trial court.
The court ruled that the suit filed by Ojezua and four others at the Federal High Court was submitted out of time and was, therefore, statute-barred.
Justice Barka concurred with the lower court’s ruling that Ojezua and his co-appellants failed to prove their claim that Ighodalo had forged his voter’s card.
Additionally, the court ruled that their case lacked merit, as it was based on the flawed assumption that not having a voter’s card is sufficient grounds to disqualify a candidate from contesting an election.
The three-member panel of the appellate court also noted that the appellants did not contest the trial court’s finding that Ighodalo had applied to the Independent National Electoral Commission for the transfer of his voter registration from Lagos State to Edo State and that INEC had issued him a voter’s card.
Justice Barka subsequently struck out the appeal for lack of merit and ordered the appellants to pay N3 million in costs to Ighodalo, the PDP, and INEC.
Justices Usman Musale and Okon Abang, who were also on the panel, agreed with the lead judgment.
