The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, on Tuesday, allowed the appeal brought before it by the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the November 16, 2019, gubernatorial election held in Kogi State, Engineer Musa Wada.
The appellate court, in a ruling in the suit marked CA/A/193/2020 between Musa Wada and Abubakar Mohammed Ibrahim Idris and others, held that, “It is crooked colt of discretion for a court to raise an issue suo motu (raising issues that were not raised by any of the parties in litigation) and determine same without hearing parties.
The three-member panel of Justices of the court, led by Justice Ibrahim Muhammad Saulawa also set aside every order made by the trial to the effect that there was no primary election by PDP in the state and that the appellant was not a candidate in the election.
“Every order made by the trial court that there was no primary election and that the appellant was not a candidate in the election is hereby set aside”, the Court of Appeal held.
It would be recalled that Abubakar Idris, also of the PDP had on September 27, 2019, approached Kogi State High Court to challenge the outcome of the primary election conducted on September 3 and 4, 2019 in the state in which Engineer Musa Wada won, on the ground that he, Abubakar Idris won the primary instead.
The trial Judge, Justice R O Olorunfemi, in a judgment, held that PDP did not have a candidate in the last election in Kogi State.
Aggrieved by the decision of the court, Engineer Wada filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal through his lawyer, Mr Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), challenging the judgment, on the ground amongst others, that the trial judge did not have jurisprudence to grant reliefs not sought before him.
The Court, however, allowed the appeal which sought to prove that PDP presented a candidate in the last election in the state in the person of Engr Wada.
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