Jubilations Greet Appeal Court’s Reaffirmation of Edeoga as LP Guber Candidate for Enugu
Enugu Citizens Celebrate Over Appeal Court’s Reinstatement of Chijioke Edeoga as the Authentic Governorship Candidate of Labour Party for Enugu State
Friday’s reinstatement of Hon Chijioke Edeoga by the Court of Appeal in Abuja as the authentic gubernatorial candidate of the Labour Party (LP) for Enugu set off ecstatic celebrations in different parts of the state.
Justice Evelyn Maha of the Federal High Court, Abuja, had in November last year set aside the frontline candidate’s nomination following a suit by one Everest Nnaji (aka Odengene) who claimed that he was excluded from the primary election that produced Hon Edeoga as the LP candidate.
While the suit lingered, the Enugu East Senatorial District-born candidate kept up the momentum of his campaign and other political activities across the entire state. The rare optimism and dynamism exhibited by Hon Edeoga made him to stand out as the leading governorship contender in the state.
In its judgement, Friday, the Appeal Court set aside the earlier judgment and affirmed Edeoga as the authentic candidate of the party for the LP in the state.
In arriving at its verdict, the Court of Appeal adopted the four issues formulated by Barrister Alexander Obodo SAN, counsel to the Labour Party.
On the first issue, the Court agreed with the submission of Alex Obodo, SAN that since Everest Nnaji did not participate in the primary election, he lacked the locus standi to challenge the outcome and that the lower Court should have dismissed his suit.
The Court also criticized Justice Maha of the Federal High Court for going on a voyage of discovery. It wondered how Justice Maha could have arrived at such a strange decision given the fact that the Supreme Court had passed several judgments on the issue of who is an aspirant entitled to bring an action.
The Court ruled that even the respondent’s brief filed before it by Everest Nnaji’s lawyer was incompetent, having been filed out of time.
Therefore, it allowed the appeal, set aside the judgment of Justice Maha and affirmed Hon Chijioke Edeoga as the authentic candidate of the Labour Party for the Enugu State gubernatorial election.
