Olumide Anthony Akpata, the Labour Party’s (LP) nominee for governor of Edo State and the immediate past president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), narrowly avoided being disqualified from the governorship contest by the Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday.
Justice Obiora Egwuatu dismissed a suit that sought his disqualification from the governor’s race on September 21st, citing it as meritless and demonstrating his irreversible incompetence.
This is the second time that a lawsuit attempting to end his pursuit of governor will be dismissed.
In his ruling in a lawsuit with the file number FHC/ABJ/CS/472/2024, Justice Egwuatu stated that the complaint was filed beyond the 14-day period stipulated by section 285 of the 1999 Constitution.
In his lawsuit, Kenneth Imansuangbon, a different Labour Party candidate for governor, asked the court to strike down Akpata’s and his running mate Oluyinka Faith Alufohai’s candidacies on a number of grounds.
Imansuangbon claimed, among other things, that in order to get the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to approve the election, the running mate and the gubernatorial candidate both provided fraudulent information on their form EC9.
He asserted that in multiple documents filed to LP and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Akpata interchangeably used the names Olumide Anthony Akpata and Akpata Olumide Osaignovo.
Imansuagbon’s complaint was that Akpata Olumide Anthony and Akpata Olumide Osaigbovo could not be the same person.
In a similar spirit, the candidate for governor asserted that the Ikhehi Oluyinka Faith Alufohai Oluyinka Faith purportedly utilized by the LP governorship running partner was not and could not be the same individual.
The plaintiff requested that the court rule that the defendants provided false information in their documentation, rendering them unqualified, unfit, dishonest, and barred from taking part in the next Edo State governorship election on September 22.
In addition, Imansuagbon claimed that, in violation of Nigerian law, Akpata had dual citizenship with Vanuatin, another sovereign nation.
He insisted that Akpata be ordered to reimburse him for N50 million in legal fees.
But Akpata refuted every accusation in his counter-affidavit and requested that the lawsuit be dismissed on the grounds that it was filed beyond the 14-day window that the statute of limitations for pre-election lawsuits allows.
However, Justice Egwuatu dismissed the processes submitted by Ikhehi Oluyinka Faith Alufohai on the grounds that they were submitted outside the deadline.
According to Justice Egwuatu’s ruling, Imansuagbon’s cause of action began on March 24 when the Labour Party submitted Akpata and his running mate’s names to INEC.
The judge determined that Imansuagbon did not file the lawsuit within the legally allotted 14 days, having filed on April 12.
Justice Egwuatu specifically stated that because the lawsuit was filed precisely 19 days after the cause of action first surfaced, it was statute barred.
He later dismissed the lawsuit, stating that the court could no longer consider it.
None of the parties received any cost awards from the judge.
