Appeal court voids judgment faulting Edo PDP guber primary

The court of appeal in Abuja has set aside the judgment of a federal high court which faulted the conduct of the governorship primary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo.

The poll produced Asue Ighodalo as the party’s candidate for the September 21 election.

Delivering judgment in the appeal marked CA/ABJ/CV/763/24 on Monday, a three-member panel of the appellate court held that the lower court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case.

The court held that the issue raised in the suit was a pre-primary issue — which translates to an “internal affair” of the PDP — and that the court should not have entertained it ab initio.

The panel further held that the plaintiffs lacked the locus standi to have approached the trial court since they were not aspirants who participated in the primary poll.

“The lower court has no jurisdiction to interfere with how the PDP conducts its internal affairs. The appeal succeeds. The judgment of the federal high court delivered on July 4, 2024 is set aside for lack of jurisdiction,” the appellate court held.

BACKGROUND

The gubernatorial primary in the state held on February 22.

Some aggrieved members of the party — Kelvin Mohammed, Gabriel Okoduwa and Ederaho Osagie — had challenged the exercise and sued for themselves and on behalf of the 378 other delegates in 12 LGAs and 127 wards.

They prayed the court to grant a mandatory order restraining the defendants from unlawfully excluding them and other lawfully elected delegates from participating as ad hoc ward delegates.

In the judgment, Inyang Ekwo, presiding judge at the federal high court, held that “there is no doubt that the second defendant (the PDP) neither complied with the relevant provision of its constitution nor the electoral guidelines for primary elections of 22nd February 2024″.

Although the court granted the reliefs sought by the plaintiffs, no consequential order was made nullifying the primary election.