The Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been shaken by the news of the Court of Appeal’s reaffirmation of Dr. Asue Ighodalo as the validly nominated candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the September 21st Governorship Elections in Edo State.
In a series of significant judicial victories, Dr. Ighodalo successfully defended his candidacy against all five cases brought against him at the Court of Appeal in Abuja. The first of these victories involved the Court of Appeal overturning the July 17th judgment by Justice Ekwo of the Federal High Court, which had incorrectly ruled that 393 delegates were excluded during the PDP primaries on February 22. The Court of Appeal found that the lower court had erred in its decision and emphasized that ad hoc delegates do not have the legal standing to sue on internal party matters.
In another appeal filed by Anslem Ojezua, the Court of Appeal ruled that the appellant had failed to exhaust the PDP’s internal dispute resolution mechanisms before taking his case to court. As a result, the court dismissed Ojezua’s case as premature and lacking in merit. These rulings have solidified Dr. Ighodalo’s position as the PDP’s candidate for the upcoming governorship elections.
Speaking on the Court of Appeal judgements, Olu Martins, Deputy Director of Media and Communications for the Asue/Ogie Campaign Council, hailed the judgements that have brought to an end the seemingly intractable legal maze the APC and disgruntled PDP aspirants had created. “Edo people love Asue. All the opinion polls confirm this fact. Confronted with the grim reality of Monday Okpebholo’s incompetence and inevitable defeat at the polls, the APC had perhaps decided that a more effective strategy would be to get in through the back door by sponsoring distractive court cases through Proxies to derail Ighodalo’s candidacy.”
“This explains why they have been covertly sponsoring aggrieved and embattled fellows like Philip Shaibu, Anslem Ojezua and even some alleged phantom PDP delegates to file frivolous cases in Court with a view to getting Asue Ighodalo off the ballot as they realise it would be practically impossible to beat him in an electoral contest.”, Olu Martins said.
Sources disclosed that the duo of APC candidate Monday Okpebholo and his godfather Comrade Oshiomhole were completely rattled and shocked when news of Ighodalo’s victory broke today, forcing the party chairman to quickly end an ongoing APC rally at Oredo LGA as they all retreated to the Campaign Secretariat on Ikpopan in GRA Benin City for an emergency meeting to chart their response to the news from Abuja.
Recent polls by a reputable and Independent polling agency, Africa Polling International(API) indicates that Dr. Asue Ighodalo commands an unassailable 60% lead ahead of the September 21st Guber Election in Edo State.
