APC Faces Setback as PDP Candidate Ighodalo Remains in Race for Edo Governorship Election

The All Progressives Congress (APC) made a last-minute attempt to disqualify Asue Ighodalo, the governorship candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State, but this effort was unsuccessful.

The federal high court in Abuja dismissed the APC’s case on Friday, with Justice Peter Lifu ruling in favor of Ighodalo’s lawyer, Chief Akinlolu Kehinde, who described the lawsuit as groundless and inappropriate.

Justice Lifu refused to allow the APC to use a previous court ruling that questioned the legitimacy of the primary election that selected Ighodalo as a basis for disqualifying him.

In a separate case referenced as THC/ABJ/CS/165/2024, Justice Inyang Ekwo previously determined that the PDP had incorrectly excluded 378 delegates from the primary election on February 22, which resulted in Ighodalo’s candidacy.

While Justice Ekwo did not deem the primary election invalid, the APC attempted to leverage this finding to challenge Ighodalo’s candidacy based on the alleged exclusion of delegates.

However, Justice Lifu stated that a federal high court could not re-evaluate its own decisions. He characterized the APC’s actions as intrusive into the internal matters of the PDP.

Additionally, the court recognized the argument presented by Kehinde that the judgment the APC referred to for disqualifying Ighodalo had already been overturned by the Court of Appeal in Abuja.

Consequently, the court dismissed the APC’s request, asserting that it was without merit.

In this case, the APC had named the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Asue Ighodalo, and the PDP as the defendants.