The crisis in the Edo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) got messier as the state Deputy Governor Philip Shaibu finally dragged the party’s candidate, Dr. Asue Ighodalo, PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) before a Federal High Court in Abuja over the PDP primary held on February 22, 2024.
Shaibu is demanding the court to nullify the primary election which produced Ighodalo as candidate of the party for the September governorship election.
The deputy governor who emerged as a PDP candidate in a parallel primary election, had threatened legal action if the party national leadership didn’t give him the certificate of return.
Recall that the PDP national leadership, whose constitutional mandate is to conduct party primaries, had held the exercise at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium Benin-City on February 22, 2024 where Ighodalo emerged as winner. The party thereafter gave Ighodalo the certificate of return.
But the deputy governor, through his counsel, Doyin Awoyale SAN, is seeking an order of the court directing the 2nd defendant (PDP) to withdraw forthwith the Certificate of Return issued to the 4th defendant (Ighodalo), claiming he emerged from an invalid and unlawful governorship primary election conducted contrary to the provisions of the 2nd defendant’s Constitution and the Electoral Act.
He also seeks an order of injunction restraining Ighodalo from parading himself as the duly nominated governorship candidate of the PDP in the forthcoming Edo State governorship election scheduled for September 21, 2024.
The originating summons reads: “AN ORDER of injunction restraining the 1st Defendant from accepting and/or recognizing the name of the 4th Defendant as the Governorship candidate of the 2nd Defendant in the 2024 Edo State Governorship election scheduled to be conducted by the 1st Defendant on the 21 of September 2024.
“An order of this Honourable Court restraining the Defendants by themselves and/agents, representatives, organs chapters, etc from tampering with and/or discarding the delegates lists that emerged from the 2nd Defendant’s congresses of 4th February 2024 and 10th February, 2024 conducted by the National Working Committee of the 2nd Defendant.”
