An Abuja division of the Federal High Court has dismissed a suit seeking the disqualification of Adegboyega Oyetola, the Osun State Governor as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the upcoming election in the state.
The Osun state governorship election is slated to hold on Saturday, July 16.
Justice Inyang Ekwo on Thursday held that the suit is a gross abuse of court process. The judge held that the suit falls outside the scope of section 87(9) of the Electoral Act and Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
Back story
- An APC chieftain, Mr Moshood Olalekan Adeoti had instituted the suit on February 22, seeking to nullify Oyetola’s candidacy on the grounds that Oyetola contested in the poll as a member of the party’s Caretaker Extraordinary and Convention Planning Committee (CECPC).
- Mr Adeoti submitted that the act contravened the provisions of Section 222 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Article 31(iii) of the APC (October 2014 as Amended).
- He averred that Governor Oyetola ought to have resigned his APC’s CECPC membership and leave office as an officer of the APC at least 30 days to the date of the APC Osun state primary election to qualify for participation in the primary election.
- While Mr Adeoti is the plaintiff In the suit, the defendants include APC, Oyetola and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
- Mr Adeoti was an aspirant in the February 19 Osun APC governorship primary election.
How the court ruled
Delivering judgement on the matter, Justice Ekwo stated that the suit was an abuse of court process.
The judge held that there was no iota of law supporting Mr Adeoti’s process filed before the court.
The court aligned with the argument of APC that the court could not assume jurisdiction on the matter on the grounds that there was no cause of action for filing the suit.
Justice Ekwo said the plaintiff who was also an aspirant in the February 19 APC primary poll, in his application, also admitted that he did not exhaust the party’s internal mechanism before filing the suit.
Consequently, the judge dismissed the suit in its entirety for being an abuse of court process.
