The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Friday, dismissed a suit filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) seeking to disqualify Asue Ighodalo, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for the September 21 gubernatorial election in Edo State.
The APC challenged the validity of the PDP primary that led to Ighodalo’s candidacy, following a previous ruling by Justice Inyang Ekwo on July 4.
In that ruling, the court had found that the PDP wrongfully excluded 378 delegates from its February 22 primary, though it did not invalidate the primary itself.
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Seizing on this ruling, the APC filed a fresh suit, arguing that Ighodalo should be disqualified due to the alleged unlawful exclusion of delegates.
The APC named the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Ighodalo, and the PDP as 1st to 3rd defendants, respectively.
However, Justice Peter Lifu, in his ruling, criticized the APC for interfering in the internal affairs of the PDP, calling the party a “busybody” and a “meddlesome interloper.”
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The court agreed with Ighodalo’s lawyer, Chief Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, who argued that the suit was baseless and unwarranted, and that the Federal High Court could not act as an appellate court in its own case.
Justice Lifu further upheld that the judgment the APC was relying on had already been overturned by the Court of Appeal in Abuja. Consequently, the judge dismissed the APC’s request for Ighodalo’s disqualification, ruling that the case lacked merit.
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