Edo guber: Court dismisses Esene, Ojezua’s case to disqualify Ighodalo

The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Friday dismissed the appeal by governorship aspirants of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State, Arthur Esene and Anselm Ojezua, seeking the disqualification of the party’s candidate in the forthcoming September 21 governorship election, Asue Ighodalo.

In the appeal marked CA/ABJ/CV/863/2024, Esene and Ojezua had prayed to the Court of Appeal to set aside the April 17 judgment by Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which dismissed their suit for being statute-barred.

Justice Omotosho had also held that not only did they fail to prove their claim that Ighodalo forged his voter’s card, but that non-possession of a voter’s card did not constitute a disqualifying factor under the Constitution and the Electoral Act to prevent a candidate from contesting the election.

Justice Hamma Barka, in the lead judgment of the Court of Appeal on Friday, affirmed the judgment by Justice Omotosho and held that the suit filed before the Federal High Court by Ojezua and four others was filed out of time and was statute-barred.

Justice Barka also agreed with the finding of the Federal High Court that, not only did Ojezua and others fail to establish their claim that Ighodalo forged his voter’s card, but their suit was without merit because it was based on the flawed assumption that not possessing a voter’s card constitutes grounds to disqualify a candidate from contesting the election.

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He found that the appellants failed to appeal the findings of the trial court 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 issued a voter’s card to Ighodalo.

Justice Barka proceeded to strike out the appeal for being without merit and awarded the cost of N3 million against the appellants in favor of Ighodalo, the PDP, and INEC.

Other members of the panel – Justices Usman Musale and Okon Abang – agreed with the lead judgment.