Edo: It’s not necessary to appeal ruling on PDP gov’ship primary

Pedro Obaseki, the campaign director of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Edo State, Asue Ighodalo, says it is not necessary to appeal the judgement which nullified the primary election that produced Ighodalo as the party’s standard bearer.

Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja had voided the PDP governorship primary election in Edo State.

The ruling said that the election conducted on February 22, 2024, was voided on the ground that 378 delegates who were supposed to vote at the primary election were unlawfully excluded by PDP.

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However, the Edo State PDP Chairman, Tony Azeignemi, had in a statement on Thursday said Ighodalo remained the party’s candidate for the September 21 governorship election.

“Let it be on record that the candidature of Dr Asue Ighodalo as the flag bearer of the party for the 2024 elections remains intact and that the judgement of the Federal High court in Abuja did not in any way affect the party,” he had said.

During an interview on Channels TV’s Politics Today on Thursday, Obaseki said that it was not necessary to appeal the judgement because it was absolutely of no consequence.

He said, “I, Pedro Obaseki, wonder if it’s necessary to appeal the judgement because it is absolutely of no consequence. What was displayed there by the pronouncement made by Justice Inyang Ekwo borders on something close to judicial rascality.

“In this same case, in law we call it Res Judicata, filed by someone who might have been a participant in the process. I am talking about Hadiza Umaru, who has collected forms to contest and filed the case on the same list of delegates and filed it at the court of Justice Inyang Ekwo.

“I want to quote him. He said the plaintiffs who had the locus to challenge this primary did not establish whether or not they have been affected by the decision of the party to hold the primaries and strike them all out.”