The Supreme Court judgment delivered in Abuja on Wednesday recognising the Godwin Obaseki People Democratic Party’s candidates as against those of the Legacy Group for the forthcoming general elections has been described as a case of ‘No victor, no Vanquished.
In a statement issued in Benin City and signed by the Chief Press Secretary, Office of the Deputy Governor, Comrade Ebomhiana Musa, quoted the Deputy Governor, Rt Hon Comrade Philip Shaibu as saying that “I want to see the judgement delivered today by the Supreme Court as a case of no victor, no vanquished. This is because PDP is one family in Edo State.”
“What brought us to this point was a mere family issue. Going forward, we shall all go back home and work together as a family to deliver all our candidates from top to bottom in the forthcoming general election. The Supreme Court has given its verdict, as a family, we shall go home and resolve ourselves. As I said, it’s a family affair”, the Deputy Governor concluded.
A five-member panel of the court held the appeal filed by Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama was incompetent having been hinged on issues that did not form part of the judgment of the Court of Appeal which he had appealed.
Justice Centus Nweze, in the lead judgment, held that an appeal must be based on issues contended at the lower court to qualify for a review.
The judgment in the appeal marked: SC/CV/1575/2022 was applied to about eight other Appeals relating to the dispute in Edo PDP over which faction conducted a valid primary, from which the party’s authentic candidates emerged.