Again, A’Court Refuses to Disqualify Ighodalo in Edo Guber Poll

Chuks Okocha and Alex Enumah in Abuja

The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal has again refused a request to disqualify Mr. Asue Ighodalo as candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the forthcoming governorship election in Edo State.
This was as the PDP yesterday asserted that the judgement of the Court of Appeal which unanimously affirmed the eligibility of its candidate in the September 21, 2024 Edo State Governorship election, Ighodalo, is another resounding victory for the collective will and aspiration of the people of Edo State.

The three-member panel of the appellate court in a judgement yesterday, dismissed the request by Arthur Esene and Anselm Ojezua, for lacking in merit.
Esene and Ojezua, had in the appeal marked: CA/ABJ/CV/863/2024, prayed the Court of Appeal to set aside the April 17 judgement by Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which dismissed their suit for being statute barred.
Besides, Justice Omotosho held that the plaintiffs did not prove their claim that Ighodalo forged his voter’s card, adding that non-possession of voter’s card did not constitute a disqualifying factor under the Constitution and the Electoral Act.

Dissatisfied, Esene and Ojezua, approached the appellate court for an order setting aside the judgement of the trial court.
But in its judgement, the appellate court determined all the five issues against the appellants, adding that the suit was not only statute barred, having been instituted outside the 14 days allowed for pre-election cases, but was also without merit.
According to Justice Hamma Barka, who delivered the lead judgement, the issue in contention was a pre-election matter and therefore fell under the provision of Section 285(9) of the Constitution, which mandates the filing of a pre-election matter within 14 days from the date of the occurrence of the event or action complained of.

He added that: “the date the appellants in this appeal became aware of the particulars the fifth respondent (Ighodalo) submitted to INEC is irrelevant for the computation of the limitation period.
“The time began to run when the fourth respondent submitted the fifth respondent’s for EC9 to INEC (the third respondent) being the 24th of March 2024 as held by the lower court.
“A simple calculation from the 24th of March to the 12th of April, when this case was instituted at the lower court will surely yield more than the stipulated 14 days, thereby rendering any action and indeed, this action, generating the instant appeal, statute barred.”

In determining the case on the merit, Justice Barka agreed with the findings of the Federal High Court that, not only did Ojezua and others failed to establish their claim that Ighodalo forged his voter’s card, their suit was bereft of any merit because it was based on a flawed assumption that non-possession of a voter’s card constitutes a ground to disqualify a candidate from contesting election.

He found that the appellants failed to appeal the findings of the trial court that upon Ighodalo’s application, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) actually transferred his registration from Ikoyi, Lagos State to Edo State and that INEC confirmed issuing a voter’s card to Ighodalo.

Justice Barka held that in view of these findings, the lower court’s position that the appellants did not prove their allegation of forgery could not be faulted.

He further held that the position of the law is that “where the alleged falsified document is not a qualifying factor under the constitution, its presentation cannot disqualify an otherwise qualified person.”

The judge noted that, as rightly held by the lower court, going by the provision of Section 29(5) of the Electoral Act, to disqualify a candidate for falsification, the false information complained of must relate to the constitutional requirements for qualification to contest election to the office in dispute, which, in this case, is that of the governor of Edo State.

He held: “The lower court was on the right footing in reaching the conclusion that voter’s card was not a constitutional requirement to be qualified to contest election to the office of the governor of a state under the contemplation of Section 29(5) of the Electoral Act.

“All issues, having been resolved against the appellants, means that this appeal is devoid of any scintilla of merit and undeserving of success. Not only is the case statute barred, it is lacking in merit.

Justice Barka proceeded to strike out the appeal for being without merit and proceeded to award cost of N3 million against the appellants and in favour of Ighodalo, PDP and INEC.

Other members of the panel which included Justices Usman Musale and Okon Abang, agreed with the lead judgement.

Reacting to the judgement, Ighodalo’s campaign organisation said “with these legal hurdles out of the way, the coast is now clear for Asue Ighodalo to contest the forthcoming September election as the flag bearer of the PDP.”

Meanwhile, the PDP described the Appeal Court Judgement which established the authenticity of Ighodalo’s INEC Voter’s Card as another triumph of truth over APC’s lies, falsehood and propaganda.

In a statement by the National Publicity Secretary Debo Ologunagba, said, “The pronouncement of the Appeal Court that the litigation against Dr. Asue Ighodalo was bereft of merit and based on flawed assumption further validates the position of the PDP that the several court cases instituted against Dr. Asue Ighodalo were contrived, frivolous and only aimed at distracting our candidate and the people of Edo State.”

He said that it is public knowledge that the APC was desperate to stop Ighodalo with multiple court cases knowing that its candidate, Monday Okpebholo who is practically empty, purposeless and uninspiring is no match for the PDP candidate at the poll.

According to Ologunagba, “Today’s judgement of the Court of Appeal has therefore practically brought the APC to its knees and wits end. The APC, its candidate, Monday Okpebholo and his propaganda machine, led by Adams Oshiomhole should counsel themselves as it is not too late for the APC to withdraw from the race.

“Our party commends the people of Edo State for their support for the PDP and Dr. Asue Ighodalo and urges them to remain resolute and vigilant. We collectively coast to victory, come September 21, 2024,” the spokesman of the party said.