The Court of Appeal has affirmed that former member of the House of Representatives, Halims Agoda, is the validly nominated candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Ethiope Federal Constituency of Delta State in the February 28 elections.
In a unanimous judgment, the Benin division of the court held that the Federal High Court in Asaba was right when it held that Chief Solomon Edojah, whose name was forwarded to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the party’s candidate, was not validly nominated.
Justice Moore Adumein dismissed the appeal with a N250,000 cost against the appellant in favour of Agoda.
Edojah had challenged the suit by Agoda, alleging that the petition was filed out of the stipulated time and therefore status barred, but the suit was dismissed by the lower court as incompetent.
Justice Adumein said though the party’s primary was conducted on October 5, 2018, the issue for determination before the court, and whose time frame for filing a petition, occurred on October 18, 2018, when Agoda was denied his right to participate in the election when his party submitted Edojah’s name to INEC as its candidate.
Agoda told the court that he won the primary election and though the results was submitted to the party, it went ahead to substitute his name despite winning an appeal against the decision.
The judge said: “It should be noted that by section 285(9) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, it is the date of the occurrence of the event, decision or action complained of in the suit which will determine when the cause of action accrues. In this context, since there is an amorphous variety of a circumstance, fact and situations, each case ought to be considered and determined within the peculiarity of its own circumstances.”
He also held that the lower court was right for not calling oral evidence to determine the actual winner of the primary as a result of conflicting affidavit and counter affidavit, adding that the statement deposed to by the INEC already put the issue to rest.
While agreeing with the lead judgment, Justice Helen Ogunwumiju said: “I share the same view and agree with the reasoning and conclusion that the appeal be dismissed as lacking in merit.
“The cause of action in a case crystallises when all the aggregates of facts which delineate and constitute the complaints are present. Thus, the cause of action becomes completes so that the aggrieved parties can begin to maintain his cause of action.”
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