A last-minute attempt by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to disqualify Asue Ighodalo, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), from the Edo State governorship election has been dismissed by the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Justice Peter Lifu dismissed the APC’s suit, agreeing with Ighodalo’s lawyer, Chief Akinlolu Kehinde, who argued that the suit was baseless and unwarranted.
The APC had sought to disqualify Ighodalo based on a prior judgment by Justice Inyang Ekwo, which questioned the exclusion of 378 delegates from the PDP primary that produced Ighodalo. However, the court did not declare the primary invalid.
Justice Lifu ruled that the APC had no standing to interfere in the internal affairs of the PDP and noted that the earlier court judgment used by the APC to challenge Ighodalo’s candidacy had already been overturned by the Court of Appeal.
Consequently, the judge dismissed the APC’s disqualification request, stating that it lacked merit.
The APC had named the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Asue Ighodalo, and the PDP as defendants in the case.
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