JUST IN: Appeal Court dismisses Esene, Ojezua’s case to disqualify Ighodalo

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has dismissed an appeal filed by governorship aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State, Arthur Esene and Anselm Ojezua,  to disqualify the party’s candidate for the upcoming September 21 governorship election, Asue Ighodalo.

In the appeal marked CA/ABJ/CV/863/2024, Esene and Ojezua had urged the Court of Appeal to overturn the April 17 judgment by Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which dismissed their suit as “statute barred.”

Justice Omotosho had previously ruled that the plaintiffs failed to prove their claim that Ighodalo had forged his voter’s card. He also noted that “non-possession of a voter’s card did not constitute a disqualifying factor under the Constitution and the Electoral Act” to bar a candidate from contesting an election.

In the lead judgment delivered on Friday, Justice Hamma Barka upheld Justice Omotosho’s decision and affirmed that the suit filed by Ojezua and others was “filed out of time and statute barred.”

Justice Barka concurred with the Federal High Court’s finding that the appellants “failed to establish their claim” that Ighodalo forged his voter’s card.

He further observed that the suit lacked merit, based on the flawed assumption that “non-possession of a voter’s card constitutes a ground to disqualify a candidate from contesting an election.”

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Justice Barka highlighted that the appellants did not contest the trial court’s findings that Ighodalo had applied to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the transfer of his registration from Lagos State to Edo State, and that INEC had issued a voter’s card to Ighodalo.

Consequently, Justice Barka struck out the appeal for being without merit and awarded costs of N3 million against the appellants and in favor of Ighodalo, PDP, and INEC.

Justices Usman Musale and Okon Abang, who were also on the panel, concurred with the lead judgment.

Details later…