A’Court affirms Wada as PDP guber candidate in Kogi

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Tuesday, allowed the appeal filed by the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the November 16, 2019 gubernatorial election held in Kogi state and affirmed the candidature of Musa Wada.

Delivering judgment in the suit marked CA/A/193/2020 between Musa Wada, Abubakar Idris and others, the court held that “it is crooked colt of discretion for a court to raise an issue suo motu (raising issues that were not raised by any of the parties in the litigation) and determine same without hearing parties.”

The three-man panel of justices led by Justice Ibrahim Saulawa and comprising Justices Joseph Ekanen and Yasir Nimpar, also set aside every order made by the trial court to the effect that there was no primary election by PDP in the state and that the appellant was not a candidate in the election.

“Every order made by the trial court that there was no primary election and that the appellant was not a candidate in the election is hereby set aside,” the court held.

Recall that Abubakar Idris, also of the PDP had on September 27, 2019, approached Kogi state High Court to challenge the outcome of the primary election conducted on September 3 and 4, 2019 in the state in which Wada won, on the ground that he won the primary instead.

The trial court presiding over by Justice R.O. Olorunfemi, dismissed the claim and held that he did not substantiate his claim.

But, rather than end the judgment there, the trial judge proceeded to hold that PDP did not have a candidate in the last governorship election in Kogi state.

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Aggrieved by the decision of the court, Wada filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal through his lawyer, Mr. Jibrin S. Okutepa (SAN), challenging the judgment, on the ground amongst others, that the trial judge did not have jurisprudence to grant reliefs not sought before him.

The appellate court however, allowed the appeal which sought to prove that PDP did present a candidate in the last election in the state.