Court of Appeal in Abuja has set aside the judgment of the Federal High Court I in Abuja,

which ordered the Peoples Democratic Party to allow the participation of 381 ad-hoc

delegates in the February 22, 2024, primary election.

The already-conducted primary election had produced Asue Ighodalo as the party’s

candidate for the September 21, 2024, governorship election in Edo State.

A three-man panel of the appellate court set aside the judgement of Justice Inyang Ekwo

delivered on the 4th of July, 2024, on the grounds that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to

entertain the suit of the aggrieved delegates in the first place, having lacked the necessary

legal rights to initiate the suit. In a unanimous decision, the court held that it cannot

interfere with how the PDP select it’s candidate for the September 21 governorship election

in Edo State.

Justice Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja had in July voided the PDP governorship

election in Edo State on the ground that 378 delegates who were supposed to vote at the

primary election were unlawfully excluded by the party. The suit was instituted by one

Kelvin Mohammed in a representative capacity. Justice Ekwo held that both the provisions

of the Electoral Act 2022 and the PDP guidelines were violated in the conduct of the

primary election at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City, the Edo State capital.

Justice Ekwo, who said that Exhibit PDP 1 tendered by the party was bereft of evidence,

held that the plaintiffs, through the exhibits tendered, were able to establish their case

against the defendants. The judge said that from the exhibit presented by the PDP, he

found that the returning officers who prepared the result sheets only sat down in a place to

manufacture the outcome of the poll. He said the exclusion of the 381 delegates, including

the plaintiffs, was against the provisions of the law. The 381 delegates are those loyal to

the embattled Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu.