The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Friday affirmed the election of the lawmaker representing Ado/Ogbadibo/Okpokwu Federal Constituency of Benue State, Philip Agbese.
Agbese is the deputy spokesperson of the 10th House of Representatives.
In a unanimous decision, the three-member panel of Justices led by Justice Onyekachi Otisi, the appellate court dismissed the appeal filed by Aida Ogwuche of the Peoples Democratic Party for “lacking in merit”.
This is just as the court awarded a cost of N300,000 against the appellants.
Recall that Ogwuche and the PDP filed a petition at the National and State Assembly Election Petition Tribunal for Benue State, challenging the declaration of Agbese on grounds of non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.
Ogwuche had prayed the appellate to nullify Agbese election, saying she was unlawfully excluded from the poll by the Independent National Electoral Commission which failed to comply with the judgment of the Supreme Court that confirmed her as the PDP candidate instead of Francis Agbo.
The Election Petition Tribunal presided over by Justice Emeka Ezedi had on September 9, 2023 dismissed the petition for being “Grossly incompetent”.
Dissatisfied with the judgment, Ogwuche and the PDP headed for the appellate court.
In its judgment, the Court of Appeal agreed with the tribunal that the unlawful exclusion was no longer “a ground for challenging an election”.
It argued that even the unlawful exclusion complained about could only be an issue where the logo or symbol of a political party was missing from the ballot paper.
The court further noted that the plaintiff, under cross examination, admitted that the logo of the PDP was on the ballot paper and that she voted on the day of the election.
The appellate court held that by virtue of Section 42(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, names of candidates were not included on the ballot paper, but only party logo and symbol.
It held that non-compliance with the order of Supreme Court did not affect the PDP, as the party’s logo was on the ballot paper.
The Appellant Court, therefore, dismissed the appeal, for lacking in merit.
In a related development, the Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos has overturned the judgment of the National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal in Umuahia which dismissed the election of Amobi Ogah, the member representing Isikwuato Umunneochi Federal Constituency of Abia State
Recall that the tribunal had in September 2023 nullified Ogah’s election, only for the lawmaker to approach the Court of Appeal to challenge the judgment.
While nullifying Ogah’s election, the tribunal had ruled in favour of the APC candidate, Nkiriuka Onyejiocha, incumbent Minister of State for Labour and Employment.
On Friday, the appellate court ruled in favour of Ogah, who contested the election on the platform of the Labour Party.
