A federal high court in Abuja has dismissed a suit seeking the removal of Abdullahi Ganduje as the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

In the judgment delivered on Monday, Inyang Ekwo, presiding judge, held that the suit was premature and the issues raised were within the purview of the internal affairs of the political party.

Ekwo held that the group failed to show credible evidence that it was registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and therefore lacked the locus to have instituted the suit.

In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/599/2024, the North Central APC Forum, led by Saleh Zazzaga, queried the propriety of Ganduje’s appointment as the chair of the party since he is not from any state in the north-central geopolitical zone.

They argued that the national executive committee (NEC) of the APC breached the party’s constitution when it appointed Ganduje, from Kano state in the north-west geopolitical zone, to replace Abdullahi Adamu from Nasarawa state in the north-central geopolitical zone.

It also argued that Ganduje’s appointment to replace Abdullahi was contrary to Article 31.5(1F) of the APC constitution and ultra vires the powers of the NEC of the party, among other reliefs.

The plaintiff prayed the court to, among others, restrain Ganduje from further parading himself as chair of the APC.

Monday Okpebholo, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has been declared the winner of the Edo state governorship election.

Farouk Adamu, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) returning officer, announced the results in Benin City, the Edo state capital, on Sunday.

“I, Prof. Faruq Adamu Kuta, certify that I’m the returning officer for the Edo state governorship election held on September 21, 2024,” he said.

“That Monday Okpebholo of the APC, having satisfied the requirements of the law, is hereby declared the winner of the election and returned elected.”

Okpebholo, a serving senator, won the election with 291,667 votes to defeat his closest rival, Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who polled. 247,274 votes.

Olumide Akpata, the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), came a distant third with 22, 763 votes.

The APC won the election in 11 out of the 18 LGAs in Edo while the PDP secured victories in the remaining seven LGAs.

The off-cycle election in the south-south state was contested by 17 candidates.

Prior to the final declaration, some PDP supporters had staged a protest against the collation of the election results.

The demonstration took place near the INEC headquarters where the results were collated.

During the collation exercise, Tony Iyoha, a PDP agent at the collation centre, alleged electoral fraud, claiming that some results were “manufactured” in favour of the APC.

Some members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) protested outside the collation centre in Benin over alleged attempts to manipulate the outcome of the Edo governorship election.

Police used teargas canisters on the protesters around 2:45am on Sunday and chased them off the premises of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Matthew Iduoriyekenwe, a PDP chieftain and director-general of the Ighodalo/Ogie campaign council, said some INEC officials conducted the election without the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).

“In my local government, people were thumb-printing by bypassing BVAS. Why would INEC give us BVAS as means to accredit voters and INEC is bypassing it? If they know there was no need for an election, they didn’t need to waste our time,” he said.

Iduoriyekenwe also alleged that some chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and a serving senator from Edo, are trying to manipulate the election for Monday Okpebholo, governorship candidate of their party.

Asue Ighodalo, governorship candidate of the PDP, was also at the INEC headquarters in the wee hours of Sunday, while reiterating allegations that police officers have been complicit in attempts to tamper with election processes.

In a statement issued at midnight on Saturday, Tony Aziegbemi, chairman of the PDP in Edo, alleged that the APC was working with thugs and “unscrupulous policemen to disrupt the collation of results”.

“We have learnt that the APC is mobilizing thugs to disrupt the collation process. They are piling pressure on the military to withdraw from the collation centres to achieve their devious plans,” he said.

APC ASKS OBASEKI TO LEAVE INEC HQ

Godwin Obaseki, governor of Edo, was inside the INEC office for almost three hours and exited the facility around 4:30am. He was seen out by police officers.

Dennis Idahosa, deputy governorship candidate of the APC in Edo, was banging on the gate of the INEC headquarters, shouting: “Obaseki come out, what are you doing in there?”

Idahosa was let in soon enough for his troubles.

Ajibola Basiru, national secretary of the APC, also arrived the premises with a few members of his party, while asking Obaseki to leave the INEC office.

“A governor or anybody holding an executive position cannot even serve as an agent of a political party. Obaseki is not on the ballot, he is not an agent of a political party. He is not an official of a political party like myself,” said Basiru.

“As far as we are concerned, his motive and intentions here are suspect. So we believe that there are attempts to subvert the democratic process in Edo state.

“I just spoke with the police DIG and they assured us that in a matter of minutes, Obaseki would exit the premises.

“We think that this is gross abuse of power, gross abuse of office and unbecoming of somebody holding a very sensitive position of governor of the state.

“What Mr Obaseki is doing is self-help and self-help can only lead to lawlessness.”

INEC has announced that collation of results of the election will resume at 10am.

At the time of reporting, 4,443 polling unit results — out of 4,519 — have been uploaded on the results viewing portal (IReV).