A’Court confirms Akpata as Edo LP guber candidate

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has dismissed a suit seeking to disqualify the former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olumide Anthony Akpata, as the gubernatorial candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the September 21 election.

The appellate court held that the suit instituted by an aggrieved governorship aspirant, Kenneth Imasuangbon, lacked cogent and verifiable evidence.In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Okon Abang, the Court of Appeal held that Imasuangbon failed to explore the inter-conflict resolution mechanism of the LP before rushing to court.

To this end, the court held that his case was premature in law and could not be entertained because conditions precedents were not met.

The unanimous judgment of the three-man panel of Justices also held that the appellant failed to tender the disputed results of the February 23 primary election of the party, which he claimed to have won.

Justice Abang said that Imasuangbon’s claim that he was not given official results by the party could not hold water because he had his agent at the primary election.

To worsen the situation, the court said that the appellant did not call, as a witness, a single delegate from those he claimed voted for him at the primary election.

The court further said that Imansuangbon’s allegation that Akpata did not sign the Indemnity Form is statute-barred and therefore lacked jurisdiction. The Appeal Court, therefore, upheld the judgment of the Federal High Court in Benin delivered by Justice Babatunde Quadiri, which had earlier dismissed Imasuangbon’s suit for want of merit.

Imasuangbon had, in the suit, prayed that Akpata be disqualified as LP gubernatorial candidate on the allegations that he was not qualified to have participated in the poll. He asked for an order from the court compelling the party to withdraw the candidacy of Akpata and submit his name as the right candidate having come second in the primary election.