The Court of Appeal has again dismissed an appeal filed by Arthur Osene and Anslem Ojezua against the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the September 21, 2024 Edo State governorship election, Dr. Asue Ighodalo and four others.
The judgement, in the appeal, number: CA/ABJ/CV/863/2024, was delivered by the court sitting in Abuja on Friday.
The judgment, delivered by Justice Hamma Akawu Barka, JCA held that the lower court was right in holding that the action is statute barred and where a case is statute barred, the court has no jurisdiction to entertain it.
Barka held: “Once the constitution provides a time for doing a thing, that thing must be done within the time provided.
“The issue is a pre-election matter under s.285(9) of the constitution.
“The Supreme Court has held that the cause of action in a pre-election matter arises on the day the infraction was made.
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“A calculation here renders the action above the prescribed 14 days.”
Furthermore, the appellate court also dismissed the allegations of Permanent Voter Card forgery as baseless and lacking in merit without proof.
Justice Barka stated: “The burden of proving forgery is proof beyond reasonable doubt and there is no evidential basis to prove forgery in this case.
“The lower court finding that forgery has not been proved has not been disputed.
“The lower court is right that a voter’s card is not a requirement for qualification to contest the Office of Governor.”
The court unanimously resolved all issues against the appellants and reaffirmed Dr. Ighodalo as the validly nominated candidate of the PDP in Edo State ahead of the September 21 governor election.
In addition, the court consequently struck out the appellants case for lacking in merit and awarded a cost of N3 million against the appellants accordingly.
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