Shaibu’s appeal fails as the Appeal Court upholds Ighodalo as the official PDP candidate for the Edo gubernatorial election. Learn more about the verdict.

Justice A. M. Lamido, leading the Court of Appeal in Abuja, has upheld Asue Ighodalo’s selection as Edo State’s governorship nominee for the People Democratic Party (PDP).

On Monday, the appellate court dismissed the appeal brought by former deputy governor Philip Shaibu in a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Lamido. The suit was marked as CA/ABJ/CV/642/2024.

Remember that Shaibu contested the ruling made by Justice James Omotosho of Abuja Federal High Court on May 27th. The judgment had declared Ighodalo as legitimately nominated and entitled to represent PDP in Edo State.

The appellate court upheld the ruling of the trial court, deeming it correct and unable to be challenged. They concluded that Shaibu had not fulfilled a necessary condition prior to initiating legal action, resulting in their lawsuit being premature.

The appeals court upheld the trial court’s ruling that Shaibu was unable to substantiate his accusations of vote distribution against the respondent. The court stated that in elections, the procedures and results are considered legitimate until proven otherwise.

According to the appellate court, Shaibu’s affidavit lacked any proof that votes were assigned to the 4th respondent.

As a result, Shaibu’s case was dismissed by the court and he was ordered to pay N1 million in costs to the respondents.