By Favour Goodness
Anindu Valentine and Egwudike Chukwuebuka want the Federal High Court in Abuja to disqualify Prof. Charles Soludo on the grounds of the alleged false information.
The court has fixed Nov. 30, to deliver judgement after hearing from the parties involved.
The governor-elect of Anambra state, Charles Soludo, has been sued for allegedly providing false information in the affidavit (Form EC9) he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Soludo, the deputy governor-elect, Onyeka Ibezim, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and INEC are defendants in the suit filed by Adindu Valentine and Egwudike Chukwuebuka at the Federal High Court in Abuja. The plaintiffs want the court to disqualify Soludo on the grounds of the alleged false information, The Nation reported.
In the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/711/2021 the plaintiffs claimed that Soludo indicated, in the affidavit, that he was contesting the Aguata 2 Constituency seat when, in fact, he was contesting the Anambra state guber poll.
It was gathered that Justice Taiwo Taiwo chose the date on Tuesday after lawyers to parties made their final submissions.
In their final submission, plaintiffs’ lawyers, A. O. Ijeri and Kelvin Okoko argued that having indicated the wrong seat he was contesting, Soludo supplied INEC with false information, violated extant legal provisions and ought to be disqualified.
However, the lawyer to APGA and Soludo, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN) argued that the suit was without merit and that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear it.
Ikpeazu contended that error in an affidavit cannot be a basis to disqualify a candidate from an election, noting that the false information contemplated in Section 31 of the Electoral Act was criminal in nature.
He further argued that the false information claimed by the plaintiff was not among the grounds stated in the Constitution for the disqualification of a candidate.
Meanwhile, former national chairman of APGA, Sen. Victor Umeh, has said his party is ready to confront the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Sen. Andy Uba, in court. Umeh was reacting to Uba’s statement that he was robbed of his mandate and that he would do everything possible to reclaim it in court.
Interestingly, Uba who came third in the just concluded election, is claiming he won the election, while Valentine Ozigbo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who came second has since congratulated the governor-elect, Soludo.
