Court of appeal sets aside judgement disqualifying Ganiyu, Ize-Iyamu from Edo poll

By our reporter| The Court of Appeal sitting in Benin City the Edo state capital on Monday set aside the jugdement of the High Court which nullified the candidacy of the deputy governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the 2020 Edo governorship election, Audu Ganiyu, and governorship candidate, Osagie Ize-Iyamu.

The high court had in the judgement delivered on 6th January 2021 held that Ganiyu had submitted false information to the independent national electoral commission, INEC, in his form ec9.

But in delivering judgement on three separate appeals filed against the judgement by Osagie Ize—Iyamu, Audu Ganiyu, and the APC, the Court of Appeal held that the case at the high court was statute barred as the matter was filed out of time.

As to the claim of forgery, the court of appeal set aside the judgement of the lower court holding that it lacked merit as no proof of forgery was made against the defendant and the claims concerning the differences in spelling of name amounted to mere discrepancies and not enough to prove actus reus.

Ize-Iyamu and Audu Ganiyu of the APC lost last year’s Edo state governorship election to Godwin Obaseki of the PDP and his deputy Shuibu Philip.