A Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday dismissed a suit seeking disqualification of Prof Charles Soludo, as the governor-elect of Anambra State.
Justice Taiwo Oladipupo Taiwo, in a judgment delivered in a suit instituted by two voters in Anambra State, Valentine Adindu and Chukwuebuka Egwudike, described the suit as frivolous, irritating, baseless, and lacking in merit.
He accused the two plaintiffs of seeking to use the court as a tool to scuttle democracy and awarded a punitive cost of two million naira against them to be paid to Soludo and his deputy, Onyeka Ibezim.
Defendants in the suit are INEC, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Soludo and Ibezim.
In his judgment, Justice Taiwo held that the two plaintiffs failed woefully to establish how the alleged wrong in the constituency affected or misled them as voters and in any other capacity.
The judge said that apart from the alleged wrongful disclosure of constituency, Soludo as the third defendant made it clear in other parts of his affidavit on oath that he was contesting the Anambra governorship election while Ibezim as the fourth defendant also indicated in other parts of his affidavit that he was contesting deputy governorship.
Lead counsel to APGA and Soludo, Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN) had argued that the suit was without merit and that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear it.
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.
