The Court of Appeal in Abuja, on Monday, upheld the emergence of Asue Igbodalo as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party for the September 21 governorship election in Edo State.
The appellate court, in a lead judgment by Justice A. M. Lamido, dismissed the appeal, marked CA/ABJ/CV/642/2024, filed by the reinstated Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu.
The appellate court, which described Shaibu’s appeal as incompetent, awarded N1m against him in favour of Ighodalo.
The appellate court affirmed the May 27 judgment of Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which earlier dismissed Shaibu’s suit challenging Ighodalo’s candidacy.
Justice Omotosho had held that Shaibu’s suit was premature, having not exhausted the PDP internal dispute resolution mechanisms before heading to court.
The Court of Appeal agreed with the lower court’s verdict.
“The conduct of an election as well as results are presumed regular until the contrary is proved and there was no evidence from the affidavit of the appellant to show votes were allocated to the 4th respondent. The suit is premature and the position of the lower court is unassailable.
“The appellant failed to prove his case as held by the trial court. The issue is resolved against the appellant and in favour of the respondents.
“Judgment of trial court is hereby affirmed. A cost of 1,000,000 is awarded against the appellant and in favour of the respective respondents,” the appellate court held.
Last week, the Federal High Court in Abuja also dismissed the second suit filed by Shaibu’s seeking Ighodalo’s candidacy.