By Nelson Utip
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has upholded Olumide Akpata as the authentic gubernatorial candidate of Labour Party in the forthcoming Governorship election in Edo state, dismissing a suit seeking to disqualify Olumide Akpata, former NBA
Chairman , as the governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the Edo state governorship election scheduled for September 21, 2024.
The Court held that the suit brought before it by Barrister Kenneth Imasuangbon, an aspirant in the primary election lacked cogent and verifiable evidence in the allegations against Akpata.
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Justice Okon Abang who delivered the judgment on Wednesday said that Imasuangbon did not explore the internal conflict resolution mechanism of the Labour Party before filing the legal action and so, the Court declared his case as premature in law and cannot be entertained on the ground that conditions precedents were not met.
The three-member panel of Justices of the court unanimously held that the appellant failed to tender the disputed results of the February 23 primary election of the party which he claimed to have won.
The Appeal court declared that, the appellant did not call a single delegate from those he claimed voted for him at the primary election as witness and further held that Imansuangbon’s allegations that Akpata did not sign the Indemnity Form is statute-barred and therefore lacked jurisdiction.
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The Court therefore upheld the judgment of the Federal High Court in Benin delivered by Justice Babatunde Quadiri which had earlier dismissed Imasuangbon’s suit for want of merit.
Imasuangbon had prayed the court to disqualify Akpata as the Labour Party governorship candidate on the grounds that he was not qualified to have participated in the poll, asking for an order of the court to compelling Labour Party to withdraw the candidacy of Akpata and submit his own name as the rightful candidate having come second in
the primary election.
