Court dismisses suit seeking disqualification of Osun APC Governorship Candidate

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday, dismissed a suit seeking the disqualification of Governor Oyetola as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the governorship election holding on Saturday.

Delivering judgment, Justice Inyang Ekwo declared that the suit filed by a chieftain of the APC, Alhaji Moshood Olalekan Adeoti, against Oyetola was an abuse of court process.

Justice Ekwo held that there was no iota of law supporting the plaintiff (Adeoti’s) process filed before the court.

The judge also agreed with the APC (1st defendant) that the court could not assume jurisdiction on the matter on the grounds that there was no cause of action for filing the suit.

Ekwo also held that Adeoti, who was also an aspirant in the Feb 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.

Plaintiff suit

The plaintiff, Adeoti in the suit, had filed the matter through his legal team led by Chiesonu Okpoko, SAN.

In the suit, the plaintiff listed the APC, Oyetola and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants respectively.

Adeoti, in the originating summons dated Feb. 22 and filed Feb. 23, had prayed the court to nullify Oyetola’s candidacy on the grounds that he (Oyetola) contested in the poll as a member of the party’s Caretaker Extraordinary and Convention Planning Committee (CECPC).

Adeoti held that the act contravened the provisions of Section 222 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as Amended) and Article 31(iii) of the APC (October 2014 as Amended).

According to him, the 2nd defendant (Oyetola) ought to have resigned his membership of the 1st defendant (APC)’s CECPC and leave office as an officer of the 1st defendant at least 30 days prior to the date of the 1st defendant’s Osun State primary election to qualify for participation in the said 1st defendant’s primary election.

Oyetola reacts

Meanwhile, the official spokesman of Governor Oyetola, Ismail Omipidan has appealed to all the aggrieved members of APC to return fully to the fold of the party with a view to jointly win the poll on Saturday.

According to him, “Going to court in the first instance was a wasted effort because my principal, Governor Oyetola ought not to have resigned his membership of the Caretaker Committee in the first instance, yet being a meticulous person, he still went ahead to resign his appointment”.

Omipidan congratulated all members of the APC and urged them to be further emboldened by the victory at the court by voting Governor Oyetola for second term.

Omipidan said the second coming of Oyetola will enable him consolidate on his humble achievements.

Emmanuel Ukoh