CLEARING THE MISLEADING INFORMATION FOR THE RECORDS.

EDO STATE GUBER RACE 2024!!!-  

*ThisDay Newspaper’s Law Section: Edo PDP Primary Untouched by Court Judgement*

_… recommends disciplinary action against Adaze Emwanta for lying to Nigerians to cause confusion_

_… media houses acted irresponsibly by relying on the views of a lawyer rather than the court ruling to report their stories_

A ThisDay Newspaper Law Section analysis has confirmed that the Edo PDP primary election is untouched by the July 4, 2024 Judgement by Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Abuja Federal High Court.   

In the advocate section of the newspaper by Onikepo Braithwaite, she said that as wrongly reported in the media, the FHC didn’t nullify the Edo PDP gubernatorial primaries.

According to her, “As wrongly reported in the media, the FHC didn’t nullify the Edo PDP Gubernatorial Primaries, or the position of Asue Ighodalo as the PDP’s Gubernatorial Candidate in the upcoming Edo State election. The court however, delivered a strange judgement holding that the Plaintiffs in the case are lawful delegates who cannot be excluded from participating as Ward Delegates in a primary election that already took place on February 22, 2024, or any other date, a decision which by law, the court isn’t empowered to make. 

“In Osagie & Ors v Enoghama, PDP & Ors (2022) LPELR-58903 (SC) (decided by Ekwo J at first instance) the Apex Court upheld his decision and held inter alia that: “There is no law that gives delegates elected to vote in a primary election of a political party the right of action to protect or preserve their status as such delegates, or protect their right to vote during such primary elections. The refusal of their political party to recognise them as such delegates, or to allow them vote in a primary election to elect the party’s candidates, would not give such delegates legal cause for action. However, such refusal can create a legal cause of action by an Aspirant in the primary election, after a candidate has been selected under Section 84(14) of the Electoral Act”.

Condemning the actions of the lawyer to the plantiffs, Adaze Emwanta, she said: “And, the new trend, where at the conclusion of court proceedings, Lawyers go out to brief the media on pronouncements that the court did not make, as was done in this Edo case, which Media Houses then disseminate without ascertaining the true facts, resulting in the general public being misinformed and misled, thereby causing unnecessary chaos, is not only troubling and dangerous to say the least, but unethical. Aside from the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners 2023 (RPC) which disallows such behaviour by Lawyers, accuracy is the first rule that Journalists must observe in their reportage.”

On the particulars of the case, she said: “The decision in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/165/2024 Honourable Kelvin Mohammed & 2 Ors v INEC, PDP & 2 Ors in which Judgement was delivered by Inyang Ekwo J of the Federal High Court (FHC) on July 4, 2024 (Edo case), is consequently, rather bizarre, and yet another case of abuse of court process – a frivolous, vexatious case, in which not only do the Claimants not have locus standi to bring the action, there’s no legally recognisable, sustainable or reasonable cause of action for any court to adjudicate upon, thereby leaving the court without jurisdiction to hear their case. In Gafar v Government of Kwara State (2007) LPELR-8073 per Mahmud Mohammed, JSC, the Supreme Court held that “where a court had no jurisdiction to entertain any claim, anything done in respect of the claim will be an exercise in futility”. Also see the locus classicus of Madukolu v Nkemdilim 1962 2 SCNLR 34. I submit that the decision in the Edo case, is an exercise in futility; null and void ab initio and of no effect.”

She continued: “The main plank of the Claimant’s claim, borders on matters concerning Ad-hoc Delegates and their alleged exclusion from participation in the Edo State PDP Primaries that took place earlier this year, which means that this happened before the Edo Gubernatorial election that is yet to take place. See Osagie & Ors v Enoghama, PDP & Ors (Supra). In Magaji v APC & Ors (2023) LPELR-60356(SC) per Kudirat Motonmori Olatokunbo Kekere-Ekun, JSC, the Supreme Court held that it had decided in a several cases that: “the selection of ward delegates to vote in a primary election is not a pre-election matter, in respect of which any court has jurisdiction to adjudicate…..”. I submit that the Edo case doesn’t fall within the definition of a pre-election matter, nor does the court have jurisdiction to adjudicate upon it. 

“Section 285(14)(a)-(c) of the Constitution clearly sets out the definition of a pre-election matter, and who is permitted to institute such pre-election proceedings. In the case of Section 285(14)(a) & (b), only Aspirants (see the definition of Aspirant in Section 152 of the Electoral Act 2022 (EA)), that is, those who participated in the Primaries to vie for the position that the people will vote for in the general elections, have the locus standi to institute the pre-election proceedings mentioned therein; while by virtue of Section 285(14)(c), it is the political party that has the locus standi to institute the pre-election proceedings mentioned therein.

“In the Edo case, neither Aspirants nor the PDP, instituted the action, but, so-called alleged Ad-hoc Delegates. In Osagie & Ors v Enoghama, PDP & Ors (Supra) the Apex Court held that “…the persons instituting an action before a court of law must have legal capacity, otherwise, the court is robbed of the necessary jurisdiction to entertain same”. I submit that, in the Edo case, the Claimants don’t have the legal capacity to institute the action as they are not Aspirants, and therefore, the FHC is robbed of jurisdiction to entertain same. See the case of Commissioner of Lands Mid-Western State v Edo-Osagie & Ors (1973) LPELR-2933(SC) per George Baptist Ayodola Coker, JSC.”