The Court of Appeal in Abuja has dismissed an appeal filed by two governorship aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State, Arthur Esene and Anselm Ojezua, seeking to disqualify the party’s candidate, Asue Ighodalo, from the upcoming governorship election scheduled for September 21.
The appellants had appealed the April 17, 2024, judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which dismissed their suit as statute-barred. However, the Court of Appeal upheld the trial court’s decision, ruling that the suit was filed out of time.
In his lead judgment, Justice Hamma Barka concurred with the lower court’s ruling that the appellants failed to substantiate their claim that Ighodalo had forged his voter’s card. The appellate court also found that the case was without merit, as the appellants’ argument that not having a voter’s card is grounds for disqualification was flawed.
The panel noted that the appellants did not contest the trial court’s finding that Ighodalo had applied to transfer his voter registration from Lagos to Edo State and was subsequently issued a voter’s card by INEC.
Justice Barka 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 agreed with the lead judgment.
The dismissal of the appeal clears the way for Ighodalo to contest the governorship election as the PDP candidate.
