Court defers ruling in suit seeking Soludo’s disqualification to Wednesday
Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has differed ruling on the suit filed seeking to disqualify now governor-elect of Anambra State, Prof Charles Soludo, along with his deputy, Onyeka Ibezim from the recently-concluded governorship election in the state.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Prof. Soludo as winner of the November 6, 7 and 9 governorship poll, and by implication, the governor-elect of the state, having polled the highest total number of votes in the election.
However, a suit filed before the Abuja court by Messrs Adindu Valentine and Egwudike Chukwuebuka claimed that Soludo provided false information in the affidavit (Form EC9) which he submitted to INEC before the poll, and therefore sought the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate to be disqualified.
Judgment in a suit was earlier fixed for Tuesday, November 30, but has now been moved from Tuesday, November 30, to Wednesday, December 1, according to Justice Taiwo Oladipupo Taiwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
A notice just sighted in the courtroom showed that the Judge will not sit today (Tuesday) as earlier scheduled, hence, the 24 hours adjustment of the court verdict.
No reason was adduced for shifting of the judgment in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/711/2021, but the notice apologized to lawyers involved in the legal battle and urged them to bear with the court.
In the suit, the applicants contended that Soludo indicated in the affidavit that he was contesting the Aguata 2 Constituency seat when in fact, he was contesting the Anambra governorship seat.
Defendants in the suit are the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Soludo and Ibezim.