- Appeal Court dismisses suit seeking to disqualify Akpata
The Independent National Electoral Commission has extended the collection of Permanent Voter Cards in Edo State by three days beginning from Friday, September 13 to Sunday, September 15.
INEC spokesman, Sam Olumekun, disclosed this in a statement.
He said the electoral body made the extension owing to demands by political parties at the Edo governorship election stakeholders meeting, which was held at the Victor Uwaifo’s event centre in Benin City, Edo state capital.
“Consequently, a three-day extension has been granted from Friday 13th – Sunday 15th September 2024. The cards will be available for collection in our 18 Local Government offices across the state from 9am to 5pm daily,” the statement read.
The meeting, which was well attended by candidates and political party leaders, unanimously appealed to the Commission to consider an extension of the period for the collection of Permanent Voters Cards for a few days to enable more voters to collect their cards.
Meanwhile, the electoral umpire is appealing to all registered voters in Edo State that are yet to collect their PVCs to seize the opportunity of the extension to do so.
Yakubu added that mock accreditation has been successfully carried out in preparation for the election.
Also, the Chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu has said Edo State has recorded a total of 2.6 million registered voters.
According to him, sensitive materials are ready and will be delivered to the Central Bank of Nigeria early next week.
While speaking on Wednesday at the INEC stakeholders conference in Benin City, Yakubu added that mock accreditation has been successfully carried out in preparation for the election.
While speaking, the Inspection General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun said the force has put its foot down to work towards a peaceful election in the state.
He insisted that the NPF was equal to the task.
He said, “The big plan is to ensure an environment that will guarantee peace during the conduct of the election.”
He assured that the force would deploy massive numbers, alongside over 8, 000 members of sister agencies will be on ground.
He sounded a warning to potential troubleshooters to lay off during the election period, quasi-security outfits and non-state actors to stay away and remain banned throughout the election period.
Two traditional rulers represented the Oba Of Benin, His Royal Majesty, Omo N’Oba N’Edo, Uku Akpolokpolo Oba Ewuare II at the event.
One of them, who delivered the message from the Oba, insisted that the Oba remained apolitical, and expected that whoever wins the election must develop Edo State.
Appeal Court dismisses suit seeking to disqualify Akpata
In a related development, the Court of Appeal on Wednesday dismissed a suit seeking to disqualify Olumide Akpata as the gubernatorial candidate of the Labour Party in the September 21 election in Edo State.
The appellate court held that the suit instituted by an aggrieved governorship aspirant, Kenneth Imasuangbon lacked cogent and verifiable evidence in the allegations against Akpata.
In the judgment delivered by Justice Okon Abang, the court held among others that Imasuangbon failed to explore the inter conflict resolution mechanism of the Labour Party before rushing to Court.
To this end, the court held that his case was premature in law and could not be entertained on the ground that conditions precedents were not met.
The unanimous judgment of the three-member panel also held that the appellant failed to tender the disputed results of the February 23 primary election of the party which he claimed to have won.
Justice Abang held that the claim of Imansuangbon that he was not given official results by the Labour Party cannot hold water because he had his agent at the primary election.
The court further held that the appellant did not call as a witness, a single delegate from those he claimed voted for him at the primary election.
The court added that Imansuangbon’s allegations that Akpata did not sign the Indemnity Form are statute-barred and therefore lacked jurisdiction.
The appellate court therefore upheld the judgment of the Federal High Court in Benin delivered by Justice Babatunde Quadiri, which had earlier dismissed Imasuangbon’s suit for want of merit.
Imasuangbon had in the suit prayed that Akpata be disqualified as Labour Party gubernatorial candidate on the allegations that he was not qualified to have participated in the poll.
He asked for an order of the court compelling the Labour Party to withdraw the candidacy of Akpata and submit his own name as the right candidate having come second in the primary election.
