Appeal Court dismisses forgery allegations against Asue Ighodalo
By Jeffrey Agbo
A Court of Appeal in Abuja on Friday dismissed an appeal filed by Arthur Osene and Anslem Ojezua against the PDP governorship candidate in Edo State, Asue Ighodalo, and four others.
Delivering judgment in suit no CA/ABJ/CV/863/2024, the appellate court held that the lower court was right in holding that the action is statute-barred and where a case is statute-barred the court has no jurisdiction to entertain it.
“Once the constitution provides a time for doing a thing that thing must be done within the time provided. The issue is a pre-election matter under s.285(9) of the constitution.
“The Supreme Court has held that the cause of action in a pre-election matter arises on the day the infraction was made. A calculation here renders the action above the prescribed 14 days,” the court stated.
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Furthermore, the Appeal Court dismissed the allegations of permanent voter card (PVC) forgery against Ighodalo as baseless and lacking in merit without proof.
“The burden of proving forgery is to prove beyond reasonable doubt and there is no evidential basis to prove forgery in this case. The lower court’s finding that forgery has not been proven has not been disputed. The lower court is right that a voter’s card is not a requirement for qualification to contest the office of governor,” Justice Barka stated.
The court unanimously resolved all issues against the appellants and reaffirmed Ighodalo as the validly nominated candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Edo State ahead of the scheduled September 21 governorship election.
In addition, the court awarded a cost of N3 million against the appellants.
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