Edo Guber: Imansuangbon Appeals Akpata’s Candidacy In Court

Olumide Akpata, the Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate for the upcoming September 21 election in Edo State, faces continued legal challenges as former party aspirant Barrister Kenneth Imansuangbon has taken him, the LP, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to the Court of Appeal. Imansuangbon is contesting the decisions by Justice Babatunde Quadri of the Federal High Court in Benin City and Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court in Abuja, both of which dismissed his applications regarding Akpata’s candidacy on July 15 and 22, 2024, respectively.

In the notice before the Appellate Court, Abuja Division, with suit no: FHC/ABJ/CS/472/2024, Imansuangbon stated that, “the learned trial judge erred in law and arrived at a perverse decision occasioning a miscarriage of justice to the plaintiff/appellant when he dismissed the plaintiff/appellant’s suit on the strength of the 1st defendant/respondent’s contention in his preliminary objection at the lower court.

“That the suit was statue barred, without considering Section 285(13A) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999(fifth alteration) act, (No. 10), 2023, to which the attention of the lower court was drawn at the hearing of the suit.”

Particulars of the ground being that “the learned trial judge found as a fact in his decision that the letter forwarding the personal particulars of the 1st and 2nd defendants/respondents as in INEC Form EC9 to 4th defendant/respondent(the Independent National Electoral Commission) was received by the 4th defendant/respondent on the 24th of March, 2024.”

Also, that “the learned trial judge further found as a fact that the commencement date of computation thereof, of time allowed for filling of pre-election matters in the circumstance, was the 24th of March, 2024.