EDO POLL: APPEAL COURT REJECTS ESENE, OJEZUA'S CASE TO DISQUALIFY IGHODALO

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The Court of Application in Abuja dismissed an application filed by Edo State governorship hopefuls Arthur Esene and Anselm Ojezua to disqualify the party’s nominee in the upcoming September 21 governorship election, Asue Ighodalo.

Esene and Ojezua have filed an appeal, CA/ABJ/CV/863/2024, requesting that the Court of Appeal overturn Justice James Omotosho’s April 17 decision of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which dismissed their claim as statute barred.

Justice Omotosho further ruled that not only did they fail to establish their assertion that Ighodalo fabricated his voter’s card, but non-possession of a voter’s card did not constitute a disqualifying condition under the Constitution and the Electoral Act for a candidate to contest an election.

In the Court of Appeal’s lead decision on Friday, Justice Hamma Barka affirmed Justice Omotosho’s decision, ruling that Ojezua and four others’ complaint filed before the Federal High Court was filed out of time and therefore statute barred.

Justice Barka also agreed with the Federal High Court’s conclusion that, not only did Ojezua and others fail to establish their claim that Ighodalo forged his voter’s card, but their suit was devoid of merit because it was based on a flawed assumption that the lack of a voter’s card constitutes a ground for disqualifying a candidate from contesting an election.

He ruled that the appellants failed to appeal the trial court’s findings that Ighodalo applied to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the transfer of his registration from Lagos State to Edo State and that INEC granted Ighodalo a voter’s card.

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