By Akinwale Kasali

Asue Ighodalo, has been reaffirmed by the Court of Appeal as the Governorship Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. The second highest Court in the land affirmed that Ighodalo is the duly certified Candidate of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Edo State.

Justice A.M. Lamido’s Panel of two other Judges declined to nullify the Primary Election which produced Ighodalo as candidate of the PDP, for the impending governorship election in Edo State, and dismissed the appeal that was filed by the reinstated embattled Deputy Governor of the state, Philip Shaibu.

The Judge dismissed the appeal marked: CA/ABJ/CV/642/2024, for lack of merit, and  stressed that it found no reason to set aside the May 27 judgement of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which refused to invalidate the governorship primary election the PDP conducted in Edo State based on the suit by the Appellant.

For wasting its time, the Court of Appeal awarded a penalty of one million Naira in fines, against the Appellant in favour of the Respondents in the matter.

Justice James of Omotosho of the High Court court had, in his judgement, which was affirmed by the appellate court, held that  Deputy Governor, Shaibu, lacked the locus standi (legal rights) to seek to nullify the outcome of the primary poll.

Justice Omotosho held that the plaintiff did not meet the condition precedent that would have conferred such legal right on him.

According to the Court, no evidence was adduced to establish that he participated in the Primary Election he sought to nullify its outcome.

Justice Omotosho held that it was a basic requirement of the law that a plaintiff must take part in a disputed election to be able to challenge its outcome in court.

Omotosho had said there was overwhelming evidence that the plaintiff was never physically present at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City, where the PDP conducted its primary election on February 22.

The Court said there was an unchallenged evidence that the Deputy Governor participated in a parallel primary election that was conducted in his residence by a faction of the party.

More so, Justice Omotoso held that the plaintiff failed to explore and exhaust the internal dispute resolution mechanism of the PDP as stipulated by the law, before he approached the court with the suit.

He further held that the plaintiff had no basis to call for the cancellation of the primary election result and the nullification of Ighodalo’s candidacy since he did not participate in the exercise.

He, therefore, dismissed the suit for want of merit.

By Ayodele Oni

Tinubu Media Group (TMSG) has advised governors elected on the ticket of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to focus on development in their respective states, rather than criticizing President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

TMSG described as hypocrisy on the part of the PDP governors to abandon governance in their states and advising the federal government.

The group made the remarks in Abuja following the governors’ comments on the Tinubu administration.

“In a twist of irony, the PDP governors who had feasted on the enormous allocations being generated by the Tinubu administration have turned to accuse the same government of non – performance.”

The TMSG, in a statement signed by its Chairman Emeka Nwankpa and Secretary Dapo Okubanjo, noted that the PDP governors statement was down to insincerity and smirks of being arrogantly sanctimonious.

“Non-performing governors like those of the PDP are a burden on the country.

“The governors elected on the platform of the PDP are in no position to advise President Bola Tinubu on governance or rate his performance in office because none of them has done anything worthwhile with the improved revenue they had been getting since Tinubu assumed office in the last one year.

“Going through the communique issued by PDP governors on sundry national issues at the end of their meeting in Enugu, we were not surprised that they took pot shots at President Bola Tinubu who has over the years been the nemesis of their party even before his assumption of office.

“But we find it shameful that state governors, with little or no real performance to their names in spite of a quantum leap in public funds allocated to them in over one year, are pointing fingers of blame at the President.

“We consider this as an act of hypocrisy, but we also recognize that they have to play the politics of opposition, which in Nigeria denotes abuse or canvassing false narratives.

“Just like President Tinubu, we acknowledge that the twin policies of fuel subsidy removal and unification of multiple exchange rates as well as high cost of living globally have exacerbated the high cost of living in the country.

“It has also led to improved allocations from the federation account to all tiers of government which these governors enjoy.

“Our question for this group of governors is,what have they been doing with the public funds at their disposal to the extent that they themselves have had to raise posers on the ability of subnationals to pay the new minimum wage.

“The Federal government has also been extending support to state governments, regardless of party affiliation, but there are no signs of massive infrastructure projects in many of the states that are commensurate with the funds the governors have been receiving.

“And lest we forget, some of these governors are presiding over oil-producing states which incidentally have the highest number of people living in multidimensional poverty even after years of receiving enormous allocations tied to resources.

“Yet these are governors who chose to ‘express dismay at the management of the economy’ rather than sit down and engage in a sincere peer review mechanism that will enhance performance in their respective States.”