The appellant ,PDP, in an appeal hinged on 25 grounds, asked the appellate court to set aside the judgment of the lower court delivered on July 4, 2024.
Recall that Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, had declared the PDP primary election held on February 22 in Edo State as invalid.
Justice Ekwo held that the PDP did not comply with the relevant provisions of its constitution or the electoral guidelines for primary elections when it excluded 378 elected ward delegates from participating in the primary election.
The trial judge held that this act itself is against the provision of Article 50(3) of the party’s constitution and further declared that it is a legal requirement that political parties must obey their constitution, guidelines, and regulations.
PDP, in the appeal dated July 9, marked CA/ABJ/CV/2024 and filed through their lawyer Adeyemi Ajibade ,SAN, argued that the decision of the trial court is against the weight of evidence.
The respondents in the appeal are Kelvin Mohammed, Gabriel Okoduwa, Ederaho Osagie (for themselves and on behalf of the 378 ad-hoc delegates), Independent National Electoral Commission, The National Secretary of the PDP, and The Vice Chairman, PDP South-South, as 1st to 6th respondents.
The appellant said that on February 4, it conducted a three-man ad-hoc ward congress across the 18 local governments in Edo State, and the 1st to 3rd respondents did not participate and were not among the persons who emerged as elected delegates.
The party said its candidate ,Asue Ighodalo, was duly elected by the ad-hoc delegates who participated in its primary election. PDP also said the court misapprehended their case as the lower court wrongly evaluated their evidence.