The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has upheld the nomination of Asue Ighodalo as the Governorship Candidate of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State.
The unanimous judgement, delivered by Justice A. M. Lamido JCA on July 22, 2024, dismissed an appeal brought by former Deputy Governor Philip Shaibu. Shaibu had challenged the May 27th judgement of Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which declared Dr. Asue Ighodalo as the rightful and duly nominated candidate of the PDP in Edo State.
In the suit marked CA/ABJ/CV/642/2024, the appellate court affirmed the trial court's decision, stating that the appellant, Philip Shaibu, did not satisfy the condition precedent before instituting the action, rendering the suit premature. The court further held that Shaibu failed to prove his allegations of vote allocation against Ighodalo. The conduct and results of an election are presumed regular until proven otherwise, and there was no evidence from Shaibu's affidavit to show that votes were allocated to the respondent.
As a result, the court dismissed Shaibu's case and awarded a cost of 1,000,000 Naira against him in favour of the respective respondents.
This decision follows a ruling from the Federal High Court in Abuja, which had also affirmed Dr. Ighodalo as the PDP's governorship candidate for the upcoming September 21st gubernatorial election in Edo State.
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