Justice Obiora Egwuatu of a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Tuesday held that Mr. Ahmed Ododo can lawfully continue to fly the flag of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the November 11, 2023 governorship election in Kogi State
Justice Egwuatu made the declaration while delivering judgment in a suit seeking Ododo’s disqualification over an alleged breach of the electoral laws.
Ododo had emerged winner of the APC primary election of April 14, for the selection of the party’s governorship candidate in the forthcoming governorship election in Kogi State.
Displeased over Ododo’s emergence, an aspirant of the APC, Mr. Abubakar Achimugu approached the Court, asking that Ododo be disqualified from contesting the November 11 governorship election on grounds that he did not resign his employment with the Kogi State public service 30 days before contesting the governorship primary.
But, the court, in its judgment in the suit on Tuesday, held that contrary to the claim of Achimugu, evidence showed that Ododo resigned his appointment more than 30 days before participating in the APC primary.
According to Justice Egwuatu, exhibits tendered by the defendants showed that while Ododo’s resignation letter was received by the Office of the Kogi State Governor on March 8, that of the 3rd defendant, Mr Salami Deedat, was received on March 9.
The court while noting that an employee or appointee’s resignation letter comes into effect the moment the notice is received, held that the employee would not be held responsible if the employer neglected to act on it, either by continuing with the payment of salary.
“Satisfied that they resigned their appointment on March 8 and 9, more than 30 days before the April 14 primary, the suit is bereft of any merit and is accordingly dismissed,” the court held.
The judge agreed with the plaintiff that the cause of action actually occurred on April 14, when Ododo and Deedat contested the primary and not when they purchased the expression of interest and nomination form, saying, “It is one thing to purchase form and it is another thing to participate in an election”.
The plaintiff in the suit numbered: FHC/ABJ/CS/584/2023, claimed that Ododo breached Section 182 of the Constitution, Section 84 of the Electoral Act, 2022, and Article 7 of the APC’s Constitution in participating in the April 14 governorship primary of the APC in Kogi state.
Achimugu argued that Ododo’s failure to resign his appointment with the Kogi State Government, 30 days before the primary, made him ineligible for the November 11 governorship election.
The APC, Ododo, Salami Deedat and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were listed as 1st to 4th respondents respectively in the suit.
Amongst the issues brought before the court for determination is whether the 2nd defendant is eligible to participate in the forthcoming governorship election slated for November 11, 2023, in view of the fact that both, at the time of submitting of nomination and expression of interest forms and the conduct and declaration of primary election results, Ododo and Deedat remained civil/public servants and employees of Kogi State Government, contrary to the provisions of Section 182 (2), Section 84 (10) and (11) of the Electoral Act, 2022 Guidelines for the nomination of candidates.
If the answer is in the affirmative, the plaintiff wants the court to amongst others, declare that the 2nd and 3rd defendants are not qualified or eligible to have participated in the primary election being persons both employed in public service of Kogi State, they failed and neglected to resign, withdraw or retire from employment at least 30 days to April 14, 2023, when the primary election was conducted.
They are also asking the court to declare that the 2nd and 3rd defendants, at the time of the concluded primary election of April 14, 2023, and April 15 when results was announced were not qualified or eligible, not validly nominated, and the purported nomination is unconstitutional, not eligible to bear the flag of the APC, as its gubernatorial candidate for Kogi State governorship election slated for November 11, 2023.
They prayed the court to make an order nullifying and setting aside the screening and participation of the second and third defendants in the April 14, governorship primary election for the nomination of the candidate of APC, having been in breach of Section 182 of the Constitution and Section 84 of the Electoral Act, 2022, Article 7 of the APC Constitution.
Arguing through his lawyer, Mr Josiah Daniel-Ebune, the plaintiff insisted that Ododo breached Sections 20, 21, 124, 147 of the Constitution and Section 159 of the Evidence Act, when he failed to resign his appointment with the Kogi State Government at the time he purchased the Expression of Interest Form and also stood for the primary election that produced him as candidate.
The aggrieved governorship aspirant urged the Judge to invoke the provisions of the law to disqualify the gubernatorial candidate on the grounds of illegality in the ways and manners he emerged.
Responding, Ododo asked the Court to dismiss Achimugu’s suit for lacking in merit.
According to his lawyer, Mr Musa Abdullahi (SAN) contrary to the allegations in the suit, Ododo retired legitimately from the employment of Kogi State as required by law.
Ododo further stated that he broke no law at the time he picked the expression of interest form of his party and at the time he stood for the primary election and won.
According to him, he tendered his resignation on March 8, 2023, through the office of the State Governor and that same was received by the appropriate body the same day.
Ododo said the plaintiff in the suit could not contradict his claim of resignation with any documentary evidence, especially with either pay slips or salary payments.
He asked the court to dismiss the case of the plaintiff for lacking in merit and for being incompetent and baseless.
Ododo’s position was adopted by APC, through its counsel, Mr. Abdulwahab Mohammed (SAN), who demanded that the suit be dismissed with substantial cost.
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