By Bisi Olaniyi and Eric Ikhilae
The Supreme Court has dismissed two appeals filed some ad-hoc delegates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State, loyal to the Dan Orbih faction of the party, led by Hon. Monday Iyore Osagie. In a judgment on Friday, a five-member panel headed by Justice Amina Augie, affirmed the earlier judgment of the court of appeal and held that the subject of the appeals were issues on which the court lacked jurisdiction, because they relate to the internal affairs of political party. The judgment was on the appeal marked: SC/CV/980/2022 between Hon. Monday Iyore Osagie & others v. PDP and of others, which judgment was to apply to the second appeal marked: SC/CV/979/2022 involving the same parties and arising from the same earlier judgment of the Court of Appeal, Abuja.
Justice Emmanuel Agim, who read the lead judgment, while relating the history of the case, noted that “the appeal is against the judgment of the Court of Appeal delivered on the July 25, 2022 in the appeal marked: CA/ABJ/CV/594/2022, setting aside the judgment of the Federal High Court delivered on May 26, 2022 in a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/518/2022. He then proceeded to hold that: “In the light of the foregoing, I hold that the Court of Appeal correctly held that the subject matter of the suit leading to this appeal is an internal affair of the first respondent (the PDP), and to be resolved by its internal mechanism.
“It (the subject matter) is not justiciable and therefore, not within the jurisdiction of the trial court (the Federal High Court). The trial court wrongly assumed jurisdiction to entertain and determined the issues involved. The Court of Appeal rightly set aside the trial court’s decision. Having determined that the Court of Appeal rightly held that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to have entertained and determined this matte, no useful purpose would be served by considering and determining other issues in this appeal. On the whole, this appeal fails as it lacks merit, and it is accordingly dismissed,” Justice Agim held. In her contribution to the lead judgment, Justice Augie held that the appellants lacked the legal right to have filed the suit at the Federal High Court, not being aspirants in the primary election of the PDP.
Responding, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has promised to comply with the judgment. INEC’s Head of Voter Education in Edo State, Mr. Timidi Wariowei, gave the assurance yesterday at 4:18 p.m., in a reply to a text message. Wariowei said: “INEC is a law-abiding organisation. If we were served with the judgment, we would comply.”