….Strikes out Forgery Allegations as baseless and lacking in merit
.. . awards N3M costs against the Appellants.
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Friday, September 6th, 2024 has again dismissed an Appeal filed by Arthur Osene and Anslem Ojezua against PDP Governorship candidate, Dr. Asue Ighodalo & Four others.
Delivering Judgement in the Appeal case suit no CA/ABJ/CV/863/2024, 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.
“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 constitution.
The supreme court has held that the cause of action in a pre election matter arises on the day the infraction was made. A calculation here renders the action above the prescribed 14 days.” The Court Stated
Furthermore, the Appellate court also dismissed the allegations of PVC forgery as baseless and lacking in merit without proof.
“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 voters card is not a requirement for qualification to contest the office of Governor” Justice Barka stated
The Court unanimously resolved all issues against the Appellants and reaffirmed Dr. Asue Ighodalo as the validly nominated Candidate of the Peoples Democractic Party in Edo State ahead of the scheduled September 21st Guber Election.
In addition, the court consequently struck out the Appellants case for lacking in merit and awarded a cost of N3M against the Appellants accordingly.
With these legal hurdles out of the way, the coast is now clear for Asue Ighodalo to contest the forthcoming September Election as the Flag bearer of the People’s Democratic Party