A Federal High Court sitting in Benin City, Edo State has fixed July 19 to deliver judgement on Labour Party’s candidacy tussle.
Recall that the Labour Party had on February 23 conducted a primary election for the Edo State governorship election.
Olumide Akpata won the ticket, but is currently being challenged by one of the aspirants, Mr Kenneth Imasuangbon, who alleged irregularities in the process and the personal documentation provided by Akpata.
Justice Babatunde Quadri reserved ruling for July 19 after parties in the suit adopted their written addresses.
Imasuangbon is challenging the nomination of Akpata on the grounds that the Labour Party did not follow the Electoral Act, the constitution of the party and the party guidelines in the conduct of the primaries.
Lead Counsel to the plaintiff (Imasuangbon), A. Malik, SAN, in his submission prayed the court to dismiss the submission of the counsels to Olumide Akpata on the ground that the 1st defendant violated the electoral act and party’s constitution which he noted are critical elements of the electoral process.
Malik also pointed out that his client has disclosed reasonable cause of action on the matter and urged the court to throw away the submission of the 1st defendant, declare and return the plaintiff as the winner or in the alternative void, nullify the primary election and order a fresh one.
He alleged that the LP primaries were marred with over-voting contrary to the party’s guidelines and the constitution.
On his part, the counsel to the defendant and running mate to Akpata, Kadiri Asamah, SAN, submitted that the argument and submission of plaintiff were baseless and cannot be litigated upon by the court. He said that it was a pre-primary issue and as such should be dismissed by the court.
Asamah, while adopting all the arguments containing his written addresses, urged the court to dismiss the position of the plaintiff adding that it was an abuse of court process.
