High Court Dismisses Lawsuit Against Gov Soludo As Anambra Gov-elect

A challenge seeking to nullify Soludo’s election on the grounds that he provided fraudulent information to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, was dismissed by the court, which was presided over by Justice Taiwo Taiwo.

Plaintiffs Adindu Valentine and Egwudike Chukwuebuka claimed in their FHC/ABJ/CS/711/2021 lawsuit that Soludo misrepresented in the affidavit (Form EC9) he submitted to INEC.

They alleged that in the affidavit attached to his nomination form, Soludo stated that he was running for the Aguata 2 Constituency seat when he was actually running for governor.

They also told the court that an affidavit presented to INEC by Soludo’s running mate and Deputy Governor-elect, Onyeka Ibezim, contained incorrect information because he said that he was standing for the Awka 2 Constituency seat.

The INEC, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Soludo, and the Deputy Governor-elect, Ibezim, were named as defendants in the complaint.

Plaintiffs’ lawyers, A. O. Ijeri and Kelvin Okoko, argued that Soludo violated existing legal provisions by indicating the wrong seat on the form, and that he should be disqualified.

“The constitution has made a state a constituency in relation to the governorship election, but in this case, the third defendant (Soludo) named Aguata 2 as the constituency he is contesting.

“The cause of action in a pre-election matter, by the provision of Section 285(9) of the Constitution, is determined by the date of the occurrence of the event, a decision or action complained about in the suit by the Plaintiff.

“And in the instant suit, the cause of action of the Plaintiffs arose on July 6, 2021, when the 3rd Defendant’s (Soludo’s) Form EC9 was submitted by the political party (the 2nd Defendant)”, they urged.

Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, counsel for APGA and Soludo, questioned the court’s jurisdiction to hear the case, claiming that it was statute-barred.

Aside from claiming that the lawsuit was submitted outside of the Constitution’s 14-day deadline, Ikpeazu also claimed that an affidavit error could not be used to disqualify a candidate from an election.

He maintained that the Plaintiffs’ alleged inaccurate information was not one of the reasons for a candidate’s disqualification listed in the 1999 Constitution.

“False information, as envisaged in Section 31 of the Electoral Act is criminal in nature. Section 31 does not deal with error, but a deliberate effort to steal a match and to misrepresent”, he said.

INEC, through its counsel, Bashir Abubakar, said it will leave the matter to the court’s discretion.

Meanwhile, while Justice Taiwo dismissed the preliminary objection challenging the suit’s competency and the court’s authority to hear it, he found that the Plaintiffs failed to prove that they had a plausible cause of action in his decision on Wednesday.

The Plaintiffs failed to persuade the court how the purported misleading information provided by Soludo and Ibezim to INEC misled them, according to Justice Taiwo.

The court decided that because the Plaintiffs’ claim was also criminal, it needed to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

The claim was filed in bad faith, according to the court, and is an example of lawsuits that are not targeted at improving the country’s democratic principles.

“I am yet to come to terms on the purpose for which this suit was filed. I am saying this because I am not convinced that this action is reasonable”, the Justice said.

As a result, the jury granted the APGA, Soludo, and Ibezim N2 million in costs against the Plaintiffs.