The Court of Appeal has thrown out the judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja that discredited the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) February 22, 2024 governorship primary election that produced Asue Ighodalo.
High court had queried the primaries’ failure to allegedly disallow the participation of 381 ad-hoc delegates who were reportedly supporters of the embattled Deputy Governor Philip Shaibu.
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja thus voided the judgement of the Federal High Court and shot down its order that PDP allow the participation of the 381 ad-hoc delegates.
Ighodalo won the primaries to become the party’s candidate for the September 21, 2024, governorship election in Edo State.
A three-member panel of the appellate court on Monday set aside the judgment of Justice Inyang Edem Ekwo delivered on July 4, on the grounds that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit of the aggrieved delegates in the first place.
According to the Court of Appeal, litigants who instituted the suit lacked the necessary legal standing to do so.
Appeal Court ruled that the Federal High Court could not interfere with how the PDP selected its candidate for the September 21 governorship election in Edo State.
In a similar suit filed by eight other delegates, the Court of Appeal held that a political party was like a club and members who joined such parties must abide by the rules and having freely joined such parties, the court cannot intervene in the internal issues of the party.
The court further held that candidates who did not participate in an election lacked the locus to challenge the outcome of the election and as such, ad-hoc delegates lack the locus to challenge the outcome of the PDP primary election in Edo State.
The suit was instituted by one Kelvin Mohammed in a representative capacity.
Justice Ekwo held that both the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 and the PDP guidelines were violated in the conduct of the primary election at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City, the Edo State capital.
According to the judge, the 1st defendant’s counsel only said it would be bound by the decision of the court.
“I found that the case of the plaintiffs succeeds on merit,” he had said.
The three aggrieved ad-hoc delegates, on behalf of the 378 others, had sued INEC, the PDP, its national secretary, and the vice chairman, South-South as 1st to 4th defendants respectively.
