The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Wednesday dismissed a suit seeking to disqualify Olumide Akpata as the gubernatorial candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 21 September election in Edo State.

A three-member panel of the held that the suit instituted by an aggrieved governorship aspirant, Kenneth Imasuangbon, lacked cogent and verifiable evidence in the allegations against Mr Akpata.

In the lead judgment delivered by Okon Abang, the court held that Mr Imasuangbon failed to explore the internal conflict resolution mechanism of the Labour Party before rushing to court.

The court held that his case was premature in law and cannot be entertained on the grounds that conditions precedents were not met.

The unanimous judgment of the three-member panel also held that the appellant failed to tender the disputed results of the 23 February primary election of the party which he claimed to have won.

Mr Abang held that the claim of Mr Imasuangbon that he was not given official results by the Labour Party cannot hold water because his agent was present at the primary election.

The court further held that the appellant did not call as witness, a single delegate from those he claimed voted for him at the primary election.

The court added that Mr Imansuangbon’s allegations that Mr Akpata did not sign the indemnity form is statute-barred, and the court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain it.

The appellate court therefore upheld the judgment of the Federal High Court in Benin delivered by Babatunde Quadiri, earlier dismissing Mr Imasuangbon’s suit for lacking in merit.