A Federal High Court, Abuja, on Wednesday, dismissed a suit, challenging the qualification of Anambra governor-elect, Chukwuma Soludo, and his deputy, Onyeka Ibezim.
Soludo and Ibezim won the Nov. 6 Anambra governorship election, with a landslide.
Delivering judgment, Justice Taiwo Taiwo, dismissed the suit on the grounds that it lacked merit.
Taiwo, who described the suit as a waste of judicial time, said the court could not be used to truncate the country’s democracy.
Soludo and Ibezim were elected on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
The plaintiffs in the suit are Adindu Valentine and Egwudike Chukwuebuka.
The duo had sued the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Soludo and Ibezim as 1st to 4th defendants respectively.
The plaintiffs contended that Soludo provided false information in the affidavit (Form EC9) that he submitted to INEC and should be deemed unqualified to stand for election.
In a judgement delivered by Justice Taiwo Taiwo, the dismissed suit sought to nullify Soludo’s election on the allegation that he presented false information to the Independent National Electoral Commission during registration.
The plaintiffs, Adindu Valentine and Egwudike Chukwuebuka, had in their suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/711/2021, alleged that Soludo lied in the affidavit (Form EC9), which he submitted to INEC.
INEC, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Soludo, and the Deputy Governor-elect, Dr Onyeka Ibezim, were cited as defendants in the suit.
The plaintiffs claimed that Soludo and his running mate had filled in different elective positions in their nomination forms.
The parties claimed the governor-elect stated that he was contesting the Aguata II Constituency seat, while the deputy governor-elect stated that he was contending for the Awka II Constituency seat in the forms they submitted to INEC.
The judge, in his ruling however, awarded a N2 million fine to be paid jointly and severally by the applicants to APGA, Soludo and Ibezim.
