Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate in the September 21 Edo State governorship election, Asue Ighodalo has been given a free passage to contest the poll by the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja.
A Federal High Court had ordered the People’s Democratic Party to allow the participation of the excluded 378 ad-hoc delegates in its primary election, that produced Mr. Ighodalo.
Three aggrieved ad hoc delegates — Kelvin Mohammed, Gabriel Okoduwa and Ederaho Osagie — had sued the PDP on behalf of themselves and 378 other delegates over their exclusion in the February 22 primary election.
But the Court of Appeal three-member panel overturned the judgment of Inyang Edem Ekwo delivered on July 4, stating that the FHC lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit of the aggrieved delegates in the first place, having lacked the necessary legal rights to initiate the suit.
Delivering judgment in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/165/2024, Justice Ekwo had faulted the exclusion of the plaintiffs and 378 other delegates in the February 22, primary election for the selection of the PDP’s candidate in the forthcoming governorship election in Edo State, and subsequently ordered their inclusion in the primary election.
The PDP appealed Justice Ekwo’s ruling hinging its case on the argument that trial court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the case of the plaintiffs because they are not aspirants who are clothed by law to challenge such a primary.
Besides, the PDP submitted that the issue of primary is an internal matter of a political party which is outside the jurisdiction of any court.
The three-member panel agreed with the submissions of the PDP saying its ruling: “It is only an aspirant that can challenge the primary election of a political party.”
The three-man panel added that primary election is an internal affair of any political party, pointed out that the grievances of the plaintiffs cannot be entertained by any court, as they are not contesting political office but selected to only participate in the selection of a candidate for the party.
