Philip Agbese, the Deputy spokesperson of the 10th Home of Representatives and a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has had his election affirmed by the Court docket of Appeal in Abuja as the member representing the Ado/Ogbadibo/Okpokwu Federal Constituency of Benue Instruct.
The three-man panel of Justices, led by Justice Onyekachi Aja Otisi, issued a unanimous ruling, dismissing the charm filed by Aida Nath Ogwuche of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The charm became once deemed to be “lacking in merit” by the court.
As segment of the judgement, the Court docket of Appeal imposed a rate of N300,000 against the appellants, to be paid to every of the respondents.
DAILY POST reports that Ogwuche and the PDP challenged Agbese’s election through a petition filed at the Nationwide and Instruct Assembly Election Petition Tribunal for Benue Instruct, claiming non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022, and alleged unlawful exclusion by the Honest Nationwide Electoral Rate, INEC.
They argued that the alleged exclusion became once in violation of a Supreme Court docket judgement that confirmed Ogwuche as the PDP candidate.
Nonetheless, the tribunal, in a unanimous judgement delivered on September 9, 2023, disregarded the petition as “grossly incompetent.” It held that unlawful exclusion doesn’t present a sound ground for demanding the of an election under the existing Electoral Act.
Ogwuche and the PDP, upset with this resolution, took their case to the Court docket of Appeal.
In its ruling, the appellate court concurred with the tribunal’s stance that unlawful exclusion isn’t any longer a sound motive to contest an election. The court held that the absence of a political occasion’s logo or symbol on the pollpaper might maybe per chance be a sound assure, but on this case, the PDP’s logo became once label, and Ogwuche herself had voted on election day.
The Court docket of Appeal also pointed to Section 42(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, which clarified that candidate’s names must now not integrated on the pollpaper, most productive occasion logos and symbols. The court concluded that non-compliance with the Supreme Court docket’s verbalize didn’t have an effect on the PDP’s space since its logo became once considered on the pollpaper.
The Court docket of Appeal also agreed with the tribunal’s space that this became once a pre-election subject that must had been brought earlier than the Federal Excessive Court docket, in space of the tribunal.
The Court docket of Appeal subsequently disregarded Ogwuche’s charm for lacking in merit.
