By John Ogunsemore
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has celebrated Friday’s judgement of the Court of Appeal which unanimously affirmed the eligibility of its gubernatorial candidate in Edo State, Dr. Asue Ighodalo.
In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Debo Ologunagba, the PDP said the judgement is another resounding victory for the collective will and aspiration of the people of Edo State ahead of the September 21 election.
Daily Sun reports that the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Friday struck out the appeal filed by PDP gubernatorial aspirants in Edo, Arthur Esene and Anselm Ojezua seeking to disqualify Ighodalo.
In the appeal marked: CA/ABJ/CV/863/2024, the appellants prayed the Court of Appeal to overturn the April 17 judgment by Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja which dismissed their suit for being statute barred.
In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Hamma Barka, the Court of Appeal held that the Federal High Court was in order in its finding that not only did Ojezua and others fail to establish their claim that Ighodalo forged his voter’s card, their suit was bereft of any merit because it was based on a flawed assumption that non-possession of a voter’s card constitutes a ground to disqualify a candidate from contesting in an election.
The Court of Appeal further found that the appellants failed to appeal the findings of the trial court that 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 a voter’s card to Ighodalo.
In its statement, the PDP said the judgement which established the authenticity of Ighodalo’s INEC voter’s card “is another triumph of truth over APC’s lies, falsehood and propaganda”.
“The pronouncement of the Appeal Court that the litigation against Dr. Asue Ighodalo was bereft of merit and based on flawed assumption further validates the position of the PDP that the several court cases instituted against Dr. Asue Ighodalo were contrived, frivolous and only aimed at distracting our candidate and the people of Edo State.
“It is public knowledge that the APC was desperate to stop Dr. Asue Ighodalo with multiple court cases knowing that its candidate, Monday Okpebholo who is practically empty, purposeless and uninspiring is no match for the PDP candidate at the poll.
“Today’s judgement of the Court of Appeal has therefore practically brought the APC to its knees and wits end.
“The APC, its candidate, Monday Okpebholo and his propaganda machine, led by Adams Oshiomhole should counsel themselves as it is not too late for the APC to withdraw from the race.
“Our Party commends the people of Edo State for their support for the PDP and Dr. Asue Ighodalo and urges them to remain resolute and vigilant we collectively coast to victory, come September 21, 2024,” the statement reads in part.
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