The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Friday dismissed the appeal by two Edo State governorship aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Arthur Esene and Anselm Ojezua, who sought to disqualify the party’s candidate, Asue Ighodalo, ahead of the September 21 governorship election.
In their appeal (CA/ABJ/CV/863/2024), Esene and Ojezua had requested the appellate court to overturn an April 17 ruling by Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
Justice Omotosho had dismissed their case for being statute-barred and ruled that their claim of Ighodalo forging his voter’s card was unsubstantiated.
He further stated that not possessing a voter’s card did not disqualify a candidate under the Constitution or the Electoral Act.
Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Hamma Barka upheld Justice Omotosho’s ruling, agreeing that the suit was filed outside the legal time frame and lacked merit.
He also confirmed that the appellants had failed to prove the alleged forgery of Ighodalo’s voter’s card and noted that the candidate had applied to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for a transfer of his registration from Lagos State to Edo State, which INEC had duly processed.
In addition to striking out the appeal, Justice Barka imposed a cost of N3 million against the appellants, payable to Ighodalo, PDP, and INEC.
Justices Usman Musale and Okon Abang, who were also on the panel, concurred with the judgment.
Further details are expected.
