Appeal court affirms Shittu as PDP’s candidate for Ikorodu Fed Constituency

The Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos has affirmed Abdulkareem Shittu as the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for the Ikorodu Federal Constituency seat in the House of Representatives.

A three-justice panel of the appellate court dismissed the two appeals challenging the September 10 judgment of Justice Daniel Osiagor of the Federal High Court in Lagos that declared Mr Shittu as the party’s rightful candidate having won the party’s primary of May 24, 2022.

The first appeal was by Mr Shittu’s co-aspirant, Awesu AbdulAzeez, while the second was by the PDP.

Justice Abdullahi Bayero, who read the lead judgments, agreed with Mr Shittu’s counsel, Patience Patrick-Udoh, that both appeals lacked merit.

Mr Awesu had challenged the lower court’s judgment on the ground of service being allegedly statute-barred and that the court did not properly evaluate the evidence before deciding the suit.

He contended that no primary held on May 24 and that though he didn’t emerge as winner of a second primary, the PDP had a right to choose whoever it pleased in exercise of the party’s “internal democracy”.

In agreeing with the respondent’s argument, the court of appeal held that the action was not statute-barred and that the lower court properly evaluated the evidence.

The appellate court also dismissed the appeal and awarded N500,000 costs against Mr Awesu in Mr Shittu’s favour.

In the PDP’s appeal, the court noted that the party neither entered any appearance nor filed any defence to Mr Shittu’s suit at the lower court, and yet still challenged its decision.

The party admitted that it held a primary on May 24, but that it cancelled the election.

Mr Shittu had contended that by not filing a defence at the lower court, the party was deemed to have agreed to Justice Osiagor’s decision in the mould of a consent judgment.

The appellate court agreed with the respondents’ notice of preliminary objection and dismissed the PDP’s appeal.

The Court of Appeal awarded a punitive cost of N5million against the PDP and in Mr Shittu’s favour, adding that the appeal was needless.

On September 10, Justice Osiagor directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise Mr Shittu as the validly nominated candidate for the Ikorodu Federal Constituency.

The judge held that He won the party’s Lagos State House of Representatives primary conducted on May 24, 2022, by a simple majority.

He also held that the INEC form signed by officials of the party and countersigned by the INEC official had the name of the plaintiff, Abdulkareem Shittu, written on it as the winner of the primary election.

He held further that there was no cogent reason given by the PDP for a repeat election or the cancellation of its primary election of May 24 for the Ikorodu Federal Constituency.

The court, therefore, ordered the PDP to submit to INEC, the name of Abdullareem Shittu, as the candidate of the party in place of Awesu AbdulAzeez whose name was submitted.