Appeal Court affirms Ighodalo PDP candidate for Edo gov poll

The Court of Appeal, on Monday, affirmed Asue Ighodalo as the validly elected candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the forthcoming Edo State governorship election scheduled for September 21.

A three-member panel of justices set aside the judgement of the Federal High Court, which had previously nullified Ighodalo’s candidacy.

In an earlier judgement, Justice Inyang Ekwo had declared the PDP primary election held on February 22 in Edo State invalid, citing non-compliance with the party’s constitution and electoral guidelines.

Justice Ekwo had held that the exclusion of 378 elected ward delegates from the primary election was a violation of Article 50(3) of the PDP constitution.

He stressed that political parties are legally required to adhere to their constitutions, guidelines, and regulations, and failure to do so undermines the legitimacy of their electoral processes.

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Dissatisfied with this ruling, the PDP appealed the decision, presenting 25 grounds for overturning the lower court’s judgement.

The respondents in the appeal included Kelvin Mohammed, Gabriel Okoduwa, and Ederaho Osagie (representing the 378 excluded delegates), as well as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the National Secretary of the PDP, and the Vice Chairman of PDP South-South.

However, in its judgement on Monday the Court of Appeal held that the respondents, having not been aspirants in the primary election, did not have the legal standing to challenge the election’s outcome.

Consequently, the appeal was allowed and the judgement of the lower court was set aside for lack of jurisdiction.