The Court of Appeal Abuja Division has dismissed the appeal filed by Rufai Omoaje faction of the Action Alliance challenging the primary election of the party conducted by Chief Kenneth Udeze led national executives of the party for the Ondo State gubernatorial election for lacking in merit.
Justice Abba Mohammed who delivered the lead Judgment of the three-member panel of court resolved all the three issues raised by the appellants against them.
Justice Mohammed held that after reviewing all the issues contained in the appeal marked: CA/ABJ/CV/1163/2024, “the appeal is devoid of merit and the judgment of the trial court is hereby affirmed.
In addition the court awarded the cost of N400,000 against the appellants in favour of the respondents.
The court consequently affirmed Chief Kenneth Udeze as the authentic national chairman of the Action and his executives.
In affirming the September 24,2024 Judgment of Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Abuja division of the Federal High Court, the Court of Appeal held that the Ondo State gubernatorial primary, having been conducted by the national executives of the Action Alliance led by Chief Udeze is lawful and in compliance with the law.
The judgment followed the previous decisions of the Court of Appeal which had since upheld Chief Udeze as the National Chairman of the party.
The party had been drawn in a long legal tussle over the leadership, with Courts consistently declaring and affirming Chief Udeze and his executives as the lawful leadership of the party.
In her Judgment in suit no: FHC/ABJ/CS/626/2024 that was filed by the faction led by Rufai Omoaje challenging the nomination of the Ondo State governorship candidate of the party, Justice Abdulmalik had dismissed the suit for lacking in merit.
Justice Abdulmalik had held that “the plaintiffs do not have the locus standi to institute this suit as a pre-election matter against the defendants, having admitted that they participated in a completely different primary election from the defendants.
“Sections 29(5) of the Electoral Act, 2022 provides that the right to institute a pre-election action in the lower court is not at large. In that vein, there must be a combined reading of sections 29(5), 84(14) of the Electoral Act, 2022, and section 285 (14) (a-e): before the true import of the definition of an aspirant in a pre-election can be properly decoded.
“Furthermore, it is crucial to mention that from the series of decisions exhibited by the parties in this case, the courts have exhaustively held positions in tandem with the law which all parties here in this suit have stubbornly refused to accept but rather they have freely elected to resort to forum shopping in courts of different judicial divisions of this honourable court.
“I find that such forum shopping constitutes an abuse of this court which is tantamount to undermining the integrity of this court and to cause a judicial collision,” justice Abdulmalik held.
Dissatisfied, the Omoaje led faction of the party had in their appeal marked CA/ABJ/CV/1163/2024 challenged the judgment on three grounds which were all resolved against them by the appellate court.
Meanwhile, reacting to the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Ezenwa Ibegbunam counsel to Chief Fred Omolere, the Governorship candidate of the party affirmed by the Court, said the judgment has further restated the correct position of the law and a vindication of the previous decision of the Court of Appeal which had earlier affirmed Chief Udeze as the authentic leadership of the Action Alliance.
On his part, Chief Kenneth Udeze praised the Court of Appeal as a citadel of justice and urged the party members across the country to remain focused. He further noted that the Judgment has cleared the way for the victory of the party in the Ondo Stare gubernatorial election.