Appeal Court Reaffirms Ighodalo as Edo PDP Governorship Candidate

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has upheld the nomination of Asue Ighodalo as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The unanimous judgement, delivered by Justice A. M Lamido, dismissed the appeal brought by former Deputy Governor Philip Shaibu. Shaibu had challenged the May 27th decision of Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which affirmed Ighodalo’s candidacy.

Justice Omotosho had previously ruled that Ighodalo was the rightful and duly nominated candidate of the PDP in Edo State. The Appeal Court concurred, stating that Shaibu’s suit was premature as he did not meet the necessary conditions before filing the action.

Furthermore, the court rejected Shaibu’s allegations of vote allocation against Ighodalo. It emphasized that election conduct and results are presumed regular until proven otherwise, and found no evidence in Shaibu’s affidavit to support his claims.

As a result, the Appeal Court dismissed Shaibu’s case and imposed a cost of N1,000,000 (One Million Naira) against him, in favor of the respondents.

This decision reinforces the Federal High Court’s earlier ruling, which also affirmed Ighodalo’s candidacy for the upcoming September 21 off-cycle election in Edo State.