A complaint attempting to disqualify Prof. Charles Soludo, the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, as the governor-elect for Anambra state, was dismissed by a Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday.
In a ruling issued in a complaint filed by two Anambra voters, Valentine Adindu and Chukwuebuka Egwudike, Justice Taiwo Taiwo condemned the claim as frivolous, annoying, unjustified, and without merit.
The judge accused the two plaintiffs of attempting to use the court to undermine democracy and imposed a N2 million punitive cost on them to be paid to Soludo and his deputy, Onyeka Ibezim.
In their lawsuit, Adindu and Egwudike claimed that Soludo gave incorrect information in his affidavit (Form EC9) to the Independent National Electoral Commission and that he should be disqualified from running for office.
The plaintiffs had in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/711/2021, claimed 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 and his deputy claimed to be contesting Awka constituency instead of Anambra deputy governorship.
Defendants in the suit are INEC, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Soludo, and Ibezim.
The two plaintiffs failed to show how the claimed error in the constituency influenced or deceived them as voters or in any other capacity, according to Justice Taiwo.
Apart from the alleged wrongful disclosure of constituency, the judge noted that Soludo said in other parts of his affidavit under oath that he was running for governor of Anambra, while Ibezim stated in other parts of his affidavit that he was running for deputy governor of Anambra.
Ada Peter
