September 11, (THEWILL) – The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal has affirmed former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olumide Akpata, as the governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the September 21 governorship in Edo State.
This follows ruling in an appeal filed by an aggrieved governorship aspirant, Kenneth Imasuangbon.
Contending that Akpata was not qualified to have participated in the poll, Imasuangbon had prayed the court to compel the Labour Party to withdraw the candidacy of Akpata and declare him the validly elected candidate having come second in the primary election.
In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Okon Abang on Wednesday, the appellate court held that Imasuangbon failed to explore the internal conflict resolution mechanism of the Labour Party before filing the legal action.
A three-member panel of the appellate court also held the appellant failed to tender the disputed results of the February 23 primary election of the party, which he claimed to have won.
While Justice Babatunde Quadri, in his judgment, dismissed the suit for lacking in merit and jurisdiction, Justice Quadri declared the suit premature and without substantial evidence to support its claims.
The appellate court upheld the judgment of the Federal High Court in Benin delivered by Justice Babatunde Quadri which had earlier dismissed Imasuangbon’s suit for want of merit.
