Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has scheduled 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......Read The Full Article>>.....Read The Full Article>>
The date was set after legal representatives of both parties agreed to an adjournment to allow PDP’s counsel, Oyetola Atoyebi (SAN), to respond to the plaintiff’s amended originating summons.
The APC, in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1001/2024, is requesting a mandatory injunction directing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to remove Ighodalo’s and his party’s names from its online portal and ballot documents, alleging non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022, among other grounds.
However, INEC has urged the court to dismiss the suit. In a counter-affidavit filed by Hussaini Abdullahi of the commission’s Legal Services Department, INEC affirmed that Ighodalo remains the PDP’s nominated candidate for the September 21 election.
The APC, on August 30, filed a motion on notice seeking the court’s permission to amend its originating summons, aiming to remove irrelevant references and align the suit with its primary objective — determining INEC’s authority to disqualify a political party under Section 84(13) of the Electoral Act, 2022, and under Section 285(14)(c) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
However, Asue Ighodalo’s counsel, Ken Mozia (SAN), has filed a preliminary objection seeking to strike out APC’s motion for amendment, arguing that the court lacks the jurisdiction to entertain the amendment while a preliminary objection is pending. Mozia also contends that the APC’s proposed reliefs are “statute-barred.”