UPDATED: Court strikes out suit against Obaseki participation from Edo PDP primary

A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has dismissed a suit seeking to bar the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, from participating in the governorship primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scheduled for June 25.

The presiding judge,  Justice Emmanuel Obile took the decision following a successful out of court settlement by all the parties in the suit.

A PDP governorship aspirant, Mr Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama, was said to have struck a deal with Obaseki and other PDP leaders and immediately instructed his lawyers to withdraw the suit from the court.

The court had earlier stood down the matter for three hours following an appeal by the lawyer to the plaintiff, Ferdinand Orbih that they should be given a brief period to explore an out of court settlement.

At the resumption of proceedings for accelerated hearing on Wednesday, the lawyer to Ogbeida-Ihama told the Court that there were moves by the parties to settle the matter outside the court and urged the judge to stand down the proceedings for four hours.

Obile, however, asked the parties to take three hours to document their terms of the settlement and inform the Court, which he said would resume by 12.30 pm.

When the court reconvened, the lawyers to the plaintiff led by D. C. Denwigwe, (SAN), in an oral application informed the Court that the parties in the suit had resolved their differences.

Denwigwe said following the settlement, their clients asked them to withdraw the case and urged the Court to strike out the suit.

The lawyers to the defendants aligned with the position of the plaintiff’s lawyers and asked the Court to strike it out.

Striking out the matter, Obile said: “I commend the counsel and parties for settling out of court as it is the proper thing to do.”

NAN