The Court of Appeal in Abuja has affirmed Mr. Ayogu Eze as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Enugu State.
It would be recalled that Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, had on Tuesday declared Mr. George Ogara as the bona fide governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu state and ordered his name to be forwarded to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the duly nominated governorship candidate of the APC in Enugu state having scored the highest votes cast in the 270 wards of the 17 local government areas of the state.
The Appeal Court, in a judgment by a three-member panel led by Justice Abdul Aboki on Thursday, set aside the judgment of the Federal High Court on the grounds that the suit brought before the trial judge had become statute barred and not competent in law, having been found outside the mandatory 14 days populated by section 258(9) of the 1999 constitution.
The APC held its primaries on October 4 while Ogara filed his suit at the Federal High Court on November 5.
The court specifically held that Ogara’s suit was caught by the 4th alteration Act to the 1999 constitution which as a new law makes it mandatory for all pre-election matters to be filed within 14 days of the cause of action.
In the instant case, Aboki said Ogara’s case was more than 32 days after the cause of action, thereby rendering the suit to a mere academic exercise.
The judge held that Ogara’s failure to file his suit within 14 days contravenes section 285(9) and removed jurisdiction from the trial court and made the case to be statute bar.
He said whatever right Ogara may have in the suit had been extinguished by law and therefore has no right to benefit any longer from the case.
In Danladi’s case, a Federal High Court in Jalingo had on yesterday disqualified him as the APC governorship candidate for Taraba for alleged age falsification.
Delivering judgment on the case on Justice Steven Pam had held that there were discrepancies in the age declaration of the defendant.
According to him, the information contained in Danladi’s affidavit that he was born on February 14, 1968, was contrary to his date of birth contained in the West African Senior School Certificate he submitted to INEC, indicating that he was born on April 3, 1977.
But the Court of Appeal in Jalingo ordered a stay of execution of the lower court’s disqualification order.
Justice Chidi Uwa gave the order on Thursday following a motion ex-parte filed by Danladi and the APC.
The judge asked Mr. Usman Udi and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as well as others listed as the respondents to maintain status quo, pending the determination of the motion on notice filed by the applicants on Thursday.
He also issued an interim injunction restraining the respondents from taking further steps towards the execution of the judgement of the lower court.
