A Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday slated for November 30 judgment in the suit challenging the qualification of Anambra State governor-elect, Prof. Charles Soludo; and Deputy governor-elect, Onyeka Ibezim, to contest the last governorship election in the state.
The suit filed by Egwudike Chukwuebuka and Valentine Adindu alleged that SOludo submitted false information in an affidavit (Form EC9) submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/711/2021, the plaintiffs argued that Soludo swore in the affidavit that he was contesting the Aguata 2 Constituency seat when he was truly contesting for the Anambra governorship seat.
The Defendants in the suit are the Independent National Electoral Commission, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Soludo and Ibezim. In their final submission, plaintiffs’ lawyers, A. O. Ijeri and Kelvin Okoko, argued that having indicated the wrong seat he was contesting, Soludo supplied INEC with false information, violated extant legal provisions and ought to be disqualified.
“The constitution has made a state a constituency in relation to the governorship election, but in this case, the third defendant (Soludo) named Aguata 2 as the constituency he is contesting,” Ijeri said.
As against the contention by lawyers to the second to fourth defendants, Ijeri argued that his clients have established that there was a cause of action and that the court has jurisdiction to determine the case.
“The cause of action in a pre-election matter, by the provision of Section 285(9) of the Constitution, is determined by the date of the occurrence of the event, a decision or action complained about in the suit by the plaintiff.
“There is evidence that INEC received the submitted Form EC9 on July 6th 2021,” Ijeri said.
He then prayed the court to find merit in the case and grant the reliefs sought by the plaintiffs.
