Breaking: FCT high court halts criminal summons against Okpebholo

Ahead of the Edo State governorship election, an FCT High Court sitting in Maitama has stopped the criminal summons issued against Senator Monday Okpebholo, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate.

The summons had been issued by an Abuja Magistrates’ Court presided over by Magistrate Abubakar Mukhtar.

Justice O.C. Agbaza, while ruling on a motion ex-parte filed by Okpebholo’s legal team, granted leave for a judicial review of the criminal summons. The motion, marked M/12340/2024, was heard on Wednesday, with the certified true copy of the order released on Thursday. The judge adjourned the matter until October 28 for a full hearing.

The summons, issued by Magistrate Mukhtar on September 12, alleged that Okpebholo made false statements regarding his date of birth in the nomination forms submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The summons ordered Okpebholo to appear in court on Friday, September 20, a day before the gubernatorial election, prompting speculation that the timing was politically motivated.

The case was initiated by Honesty Aginbatse, an indigene of Edo State, who accused Okpebholo of submitting conflicting birth dates to INEC. However, in response, Okpebholo’s legal counsel, Adaze Emwanta, filed a suit challenging the magistrate’s order, listing Aginbatse and Magistrate Mukhtar as respondents.

Okpebholo’s legal team argued that the criminal summons was issued without proper due diligence and that the matter had already been resolved through a Deed of Regularisation, which was gazetted in Nigeria’s official records on August 1, 2024. Okpebholo contended that the summons, which had circulated on social media before it was officially served, was designed to tarnish his reputation and disrupt his participation in the election.

In his submission, Okpebholo explained, “On the 1st of August, 2024, the Deed of Regularisation of my personal particulars was published in the Federal Republic of Nigeria Official Gazette. The criminal summons, which appeared on social media before I was even served, seems to be a deliberate attempt to damage my public image on the eve of the election.”

His legal team further alleged that the case was a political tactic aimed at disqualifying him from the governorship race, where he is considered one of the leading contenders.

Meanwhile, in a related case, Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja has reserved ruling on a motion filed by the APC seeking to amend its originating summons in a suit against INEC, PDP gubernatorial candidate Asue Ighodalo, and the PDP itself. The motion seeks to remove Ighodalo’s name from the suit and focuses on INEC’s statutory powers under Section 84(13) of the Electoral Act, 2022.

Justice Lifu also reserved ruling on separate preliminary objections filed by Ighodalo and the PDP, both seeking the dismissal of the APC’s motion on jurisdictional grounds. The court will communicate the ruling date to the parties involved.

As the legal battles intensify, the rulings could have significant implications for the outcome of the highly anticipated Edo governorship election, scheduled for Saturday, September 21, 2024.