BY GODWIN OBI
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has overturned the judgement of a Federal High Court which ordered the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to allow the participation of 381 ad-hoc delegates in its February 22 primary election in Edo State.
The primary election produced Asue Ighodalo as the candidate of the party in the September 21, 2024 governorship election in the state.
A three-man panel of the appellate court set aside the judgement of Justice Inyang Ekwo delivered on the 4th of July, 2024, on the grounds that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit of the aggrieved delegates in the first place, having lacked the necessary legal rights to initiate the suit.
In a unanimous decision, the court held that it cannot interfere with how the PDP select it’s 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 is like a club and members who join 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 lack 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.
Justice Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja had in July voided the PDP governorship election in Edo State on the ground that 378 delegates who were supposed to vote at the primary election were unlawfully excluded by the party.
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.
Justice Ekwo, who said that Exhibit PDP 1 tendered by the party was bereft of evidence, held that the plaintiffs, through the exhibits tendered, were able to establish their case against the defendants.
The judge said that from the exhibit presented by the PDP, he found that the returning officers who prepared the result sheets only sat down in a place to manufacture the outcome of the poll.
He said the exclusion of the 381 delegates, including the plaintiffs, was against the provisions of the law.
Justice Ekwo held that, though the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the 1st defendant, filed a memorandum of appearance in the suit, it was unfortunate that the Commission did not file any process in the case.
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.
In the suit, the plaintiffs sought two orders.
These include an order for the defendants or their agents not to act but to show cause why the reliefs of the plaintiffs in their originating summons should not be granted concerning the plan of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th defendants to exclude them and 378 other delegates, whose names and election results are contained in “Exhibits BID 8A to 8L,” from participating in the primaries of Feb. 22 in Edo.
The plaintiffs, which include Kelvin Mohammed, Gabriel Okoduwa, and Ederaho Osagie, on behalf of others in 12 local government areas and 127 wards, averred that it would be in the interest of justice for their reliefs to be granted.
The 381 delegates are those loyal to the embattled Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu.
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