The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Friday dismissed an appeal seeking to disqualify Asue Ighodalo as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial candidate in Edo.
A three-member panel of the appeals court, headed by Judge Hamma Barka, dismissed the appeal marked CA/ABJ/CV/863/2024.
The appeal was filed by gubernatorial candidates Arthur Esene and Anselm Ojezua.
Mr Esene and Mr Ojezua had asked the Court of Appeal in their appeal to set aside the April 17 judgment of Judge James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which dismissed their suit on the grounds of statute of limitations.
Mr Barka argued that the lawsuit filed with the Federal High Court by Mr Ojezua and four others was filed out of time and was time-barred.
He agreed with the Federal High Court's ruling that Mr Ojezua and others had failed to prove their claims that Ighodalo falsified his voter card.
The judge further held that her claim lacked merit because it was based on an erroneous presumption that not possessing a voter registration card constitutes grounds for disqualifying a candidate from running in an election.
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It found that the appellants failed to appeal the trial court's findings that Mr Ighodalo actually applied to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the transfer of his registration from Lagos State to Edo State and that INEC issued him a voter card.
Judge Barka therefore dismissed the appeal for lack of merit and awarded costs of N3 million against the appellants and in favour of Mr Ighodalo, PDP and INEC.
(YAYA)