Few days ago, the Supreme Court issued its decision on the dispute over the genuine list of delegates in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Edo State chapter.
In the ruling by Justice Emmanuel Akomaye Agim of the Apex Court, the issue of the political party’s congress is an internal one, and as such, the courts have no jurisdiction over it.
In the appeal marked SC/CV/979/2022, filed by Hon Monday Iyere Osagie, the Supreme Court said that the appeal lacked merit because it is not justiciable.
Based on the Supreme Court decision, Adhoc delegates do not have the locus standi to approach the court for any relief in the electoral act, so it is the party’s prerogative to determine what happens at its congress; however, there is an earlier court order that affirms the Dan Orbih’s faction of the party as the authentic candidates.
It would be recalled that a few days ago Mathew Iduoriyekemwen, Sunny Aguebor, Kabiru Adjoto and other candidates of Obaseki’s faction filed a suit in the Federal High Court in Benin which gave the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) the order to recognize and publish names of candidates produced by the Governor Godwin Obaseki’s faction as standard bearers for the party in the coming 2023 elections.
Fortunately or unfortunately, a High Court lacks the jurisdiction to overturn the orders of another High Court, necessitating the use of a higher court of jurisdiction to overturn any previous Federal High Court ruling.
The implications of the aforementioned decision imply that the INEC cannot take any further action unless the earlier court ruling confirming Dan Orbih’s faction as delegates is vacated.
Dan Orbih’s faction is currently appealing the ruling in favor of Obaseki’s faction, and there is another pending case at the Federal High Court due for judgment on November 18th.
This means that the names of the PDP candidates on INEC’s list in Abuja will remain valid until a higher court of jurisdiction overturns the previous order confirming Dan Orbih’s faction as the duly recognized candidates.
As a result, it is not yet Uhuru for the Obaseki’s faction because the INEC must await the interpretation of the case presented in appeal by the Dan Orbih’s faction.
The intriguing aspect is that the court affirms that the delegates will be the ones to conduct the congress to elect its candidates to which the INEC as long testified that the Dan Orbih’s faction controlled the delegates that conducted the congresses across the 18 LGA’s of the State.
However, since we are fully aware that the delegates ultimately choose its candidates, let’s wait and see how it plays out over the next few days.
For now, INEC’s hands may be tied as the status quo remains.