Edo: Court to hear APC’s suit seeking Ighodalo’s disqualification on September 19

Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Tuesday, fixed September 19 for the hearing of a suit filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) seeking the disqualification of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in Edo State, Asue Ighodalo.

The judge set a hearing date for all pending applications after lawyers for the parties to the suit reached an agreement for an adjournment to allow PDP counsel, Oyetola Atoyebi, (SAN), to respond to the plaintiffs’ amended initial summons.

The APC in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1001/2024 sought an order of mandatory injunction directing the National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately remove the names of Ighodalo and his party from its online portal and voting documents for alleged non-compliance with the Electoral Act 2022, among others.

Meanwhile, the KPU urged the court to reject the lawsuit.

The commission, in a counter-affidavit filed by Hussaini Abdullahi, a staff of the Legal Services Department, said Ighodalo was the PDP’s nominated candidate for the September 21 election.

However, APC in a notice of motion filed on August 30, asked the court for permission to amend its initial summons.

Part of the prayer requested was an order granting permission to strike Ighodalo’s name from the lawsuit.

The APC argued that the amendment was intended to remove irrelevant references and meet the purpose of the suit, which is to seek the determination of the statutory authority of the KPU to disqualify political parties that commit violations under Article 84(13) of the Election Act 2022, and in accordance with the plaintiff’s right of action as guaranteed by Article 285(14)(c) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

However, in the initial objection filed by Ken Mozia (SAN) on behalf of Ighodalo, the lawyer sought an order to quash the APC’s proposal on the notice.

Mozia, in his two-base argument, said the court lacks jurisdiction to hear the proposed amendments while there are still preliminary objections pending.

He also argued that the proposed relief sought to be introduced based on the APC’s application was “out of date.”

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