Edo Poll: Ighodalo Fires Back at Critics, Says He’s Not Anyone’s Candidate

•Ojezua loses appeal to PDP candidate 

•Party savours victory at appeal court

Chuks Okocha, Alex Enumah in Abuja, Adibe Emenyonu in Benin-City and Mary Nnah in Lagos

The governorship candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State, Dr. Asue Ighodalo, denied claims that he was a puppet candidate, controlled by some individuals or groups.

That was as the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, on Monday, affirmed Ighodalo’s nomination as the PDP candidate in the September 21 election in Edo State. The court dismissed the appeal filed by another aspirant, Mr Anselm Ojezua, for being incompetent and lacking in merit.

PDP hailed the judgement of the Court of Appeal, describing it as another momentous victory for democracy and the rule of law against what he called anti-democratic forces of All Progressives Congress (APC).

Amid allegations he was merely a proxy for Governor Godwin Obaseki, Ighodalo emphasised that he entered the governorship race on his own volition, driven by a genuine desire to serve the people of Edo State.

Appearing as a guest on ARISE TV’s Morning Show, Ighodalo said, “I stepped out by myself to run for election as a candidate of PDP, driven by my desire to make a positive impact on the lives of Edo State citizens.

“And that’s how it’s been from the day I first stepped out as an aspirant.”

The PDP candidate recounted the arduous process of campaigning across the state, meeting with senior and junior politicians, as well as ordinary citizens, to garner support for his candidacy.

He said that demonstrated his commitment to grassroots engagement and his ability to build coalitions.

Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, had on June 26 dismissed Ojezua’s suit challenging the return of Ighodalo as winner of the February 22 primary election of PDP.

The aspirant had prayed the court to nullify Ighodalo’s nomination on grounds of irregularities and manipulation of the delegates list used for the conduct of the primary.

But Egwuatu, in his judgement, held that he lacked jurisdiction to entertain the case of the plaintiff because he did not exhaust the internal mechanism of PDP before rushing to court.

The judge struck out the suit and declined to go into the merit.

Dissatisfied, Ojezua appealed the judgement on the grounds that the trial court was wrong in holding that his suit was premature, adding that Egwuatu also erred in law by refusing to proceed with the merit of his case after its dismissal.

The appellant prayed the court to set aside the judgement of the trial court and invoke Section 15 of the Court of Appeal Rules to go into the merit of the case.

But the three-member panel, in the lead judgement delivered on Monday by Justice Peter Obiorah, held that the judgement of the trial court was “spot on” and as such there was no reason whatsoever to deviate from it.

The appellate court said since conditions precedent were not fulfilled by the plaintiff, the trial court was right to decline jurisdiction.

Celebrating the judgment, PDP, in statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said, ”Today’s judgement by the Court of Appeal is another momentous victory for democracy and the rule of law against the All Progressives Congress (APC) anti-democratic forces, which sought to undermine and trample on the will of the people of Edo State as symbolised in the candidature of Dr. Asue Ighodalo.

“The appeal court judgement again validates the credibility of the PDP nomination process, which produced Dr. Asue Ighodalo as its candidate.

“This effectively shut the mouths of purveyors of lies and falsehood in the APC, who are confused and frustrated by Dr. Asue Ighodalo’s soaring popularity and acceptance by the people of Edo State, including key APC members, who are publicly declaring support for the PDP candidate.”

Similarly, Edo State PDP expressed joy over the ruling by the appeal court, affirming Ighodalo. It said the judiciary had closed the backdoor for any political party, especially APC, to gain entrance into Government House, Benin-City.

Deputy Director, Media and Publicity, of the Asue/Ogie Campaign Council, Rev. Olu Martins, declared, “You will recall that we cited copiously several rulings of the supreme Court where it had affirm that if you didn’t participate in a primary, you have not locus standi to question the process of that primary and this is what judgement today has affirmed.

“Anyone who wants to become the governor of the state has to campaign to the people. APC is looking for a short cut because they do not have a clear manifesto other than sorrow, tears and blood, like Fela put it.

“What the APC tried to do is to weaken their opponent and celebrating prematurely. If not for ignorance and outright mischief, anybody should know that the pronouncement of the lower court was still going to be challenged.”