Reprieve came yesterday for Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, as the Federal High Court, sitting in Port Harcourt, cleared the way for him to participate in the governorship primary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) holding today in Benin City.
The court struck out a suit filed by the leading aspirant of the party before Obaseki’s last-minute entry into the race, Hon. Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama, seeking to bar the governor from participating in the shadow poll.
Justice Emmanuel Obile struck out the matter after D.C Demwigwe (SAN), counsel to Ogbeide-Ihama, withdrew the case following an out-of-court settlement.
The out-of-court settlement was the product of tough negotiations by party leaders who had importuned Ogbeide-Ihama, hitherto regarded as the candidate to beat, to withdraw the suit and support Obaseki.
The Chairman of PDP Governors’ Forum (PGF) and Sokoto State Governor, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal and his Delta State counterpart, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, late on Tuesday, steered the last round of talks with Ogbeide-Ihama that prompted him to have struck a deal with Obaseki and other PDP leaders. He then instructed his lawyers to withdraw the suit.
During yesterday’s proceedings, the court had earlier stood down the matter for three hours following an appeal by another member of the plaintiff’s legal team, Mr. Ferdinand Orbih (SAN), that they should be given a brief period to explore an out-of-court settlement.
He had 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 settlement and inform the court, which he said would resume by 12.30p.m.
When the court reconvened, the lawyers to the plaintiff, led by Denwigwe, 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.
Lawyers to the defendants aligned with the position of the plaintiff’s counsel and asked the court to strike out the suit.
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.”
