One of the Labour Party’s governorship aspirants in Edo State, Kenneth Imasuagbon, has taken his fight to the Court of Appeal, contesting the emergence of Olumide Akpata as the party’s candidate for the upcoming September 21 gubernatorial election.
This move follows the July 15 decision by the Federal High Court in Benin, which dismissed Imasuagbon’s suit aimed at disqualifying Akpata. Justice Babatunde Quadri ruled that the court lacked jurisdiction as Imasuagbon had not exhausted the Labour Party’s internal dispute resolution mechanisms before seeking judicial intervention. The judge deemed the lawsuit premature and subsequently dismissed it.
Undeterred, Imasuagbon has approached the Court of Appeal in Benin, seeking to overturn Justice Quadri’s verdict and challenge Akpata’s candidacy. The appeal lists Akpata, the Labour Party, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as respondents.
In his notice of appeal, Imasuagbon argued that “the learned trial judge erred in law and arrived at a perverse decision, occasioning a miscarriage of justice to the plaintiff/appellant when he dismissed the suit based on the 1st defendant/respondent’s contention in his preliminary objection at the lower court.” He also contended that the judge wrongly declared the suit statute-barred, failing to consider Section 285(13A) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (fifth alteration) act, (No. 10), 2023, which was brought to the court’s attention during the hearing.
Imasuagbon stated, “A simple arithmetical computation of the 14 days provided for under the law, from the date of submission of INEC Form EC9 by the 1st and 2nd defendants/respondents (March 24, 2024) to April 12, 2024, when the plaintiff/appellant filed his suit, reveals a total number of 18 days in between.”
He is seeking an order from the appellate court to set aside the lower court’s decision and compel INEC to “immediately issue a Certificate of Return to the plaintiff/appellant as the winner of the primary election organised on Friday, February 23, 2024.”
