Edo guber: Appeal Court reaffirms Ighodalo as PDP candidate, fines Shaibu N1m
The Court of Appeal in Abuja presided over by Justice A. M. Lamido, has reaffirmed the nomination of Asue Ighodalo as the Edo State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, throwing out former deputy governor Philip Shaibu’s case.
Justice Lamido delivered the unanimous judgment in the suit marked CA/ABJ/CV/642/2024
Recall that Shaibu had contested the May 27 judgment of Justice James Omotosho of the Abuja Federal High Court, which declared Ighodalo as the rightful candidate of the Edo State PDP.
Justice Lamido held that the trial court was right and just in its ruling, further explaining that Shaibu did not meet the condition precedent for an appeal, hence rendering the suit baseless and premature.
The Court of Appeal also affirmed the trial court’s decision that Shaibu failed to prove his allegations of vote allocation against the respondent, noting that the conduct of the election and its results are presumed regular until proven otherwise.
Shaibu’s affidavit provided no evidence to show votes were allocated to the 4th respondent, according to the Appeal Court, leaving the court no choice but to throw out Shaibu’s case and award N1 million against him in favour of the relevant respondents.
