Olumide Anthony Akpata, the immediate past President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate in Edo State, narrowly avoided disqualification from the gubernatorial race by the Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday.
Justice Obiora Egwuatu dismissed a suit seeking Akpata’s disqualification from the September 21 gubernatorial election, deeming it “incurably incompetent and lacking in merit.” This marks the second time a suit aiming to terminate his governorship ambition has been thrown out.
In his judgment on the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/472/2024, Justice Egwuatu held that the case was instituted outside the 14 days prescribed by section 285 of the 1999 Constitution.
Kenneth Imansuangbon, another Labour Party governorship aspirant, filed the suit, requesting the court to nullify Akpata’s candidacy along with his running mate, Oluyinka Faith Alufohai, on various grounds. Imansuangbon alleged that both candidates provided false information in their form EC9 submissions to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to secure election clearance.
Imansuangbon contended that Akpata used the names Olumide Anthony Akpata and Akpata Olumide Osaigbovo interchangeably in documents submitted to the LP and INEC. He argued that these names refer to different individuals and cannot be considered the same person. Similarly, he claimed that Ikhehi Oluyinka Faith and Alufohai Oluyinka Faith, as allegedly used by the LP governorship running mate, are not the same person and cannot be the same person.
