Politics
JUST IN: Court declines application to disqualify Gov Oyetola from Osun polls
The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Thursday, declined to disqualify Osun State Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, from participating in the Saturday governorship election in the state on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The presiding judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo who delivered the verdict in a suit filed by a chieftain of the party in the state, Moshood Adeoti, said the plaintiff failed to establish a reasonable cause of action to warrant Oyetola’s disqualification from the election.
Adeoti had filed the suit seeking the court to invalidate Oyetola’s nomination as flag-bearer of the APC for the election, but in his judgement, Ekwo said the suit lacked merit and deserved to be dismissed.
In the originating summons, Adeoti who had also contested the primary election that declared Oyeyola as the party’s candidate, had prayed the court to nullify Oyetola’s candidacy on the grounds that the governor contested in the February 19 primary election as a member of the APC’s National Caretaker Extraordinary and Convention Planning Committee (CECPC).
The summons had also sought Oyetola’s disqualification on the grounds that by not resigning from the CECPC, he had 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).
But in dismissing the suit, the judge held that CECPC is not an office recognized by the APC’s Constitution upon which anybody can be disqualified but a mere ad-hoc body put in place in the absence of the National Executive Committee known to law.
Read also: Adeleke tackles Oyetola on Amotekun, state helicopter
Justice Ekwo upheld the arguments of Oyetola’s counsel, Olusegun Jolaawo (SAN) that membership of the CECPC by Governor Oyetola on which the suit is predicated is an ad-hoc body and not the real APC’s office recognised by the party’s Constitution.
Justice Ekwo held that the suit, which he said was an abuse of the judicial process, was not backed with relevant laws, adding that it was brought outside the scope of section 87(9) of the Electoral Act and Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
Join the conversation
Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism
Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.
As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.
If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.
Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.
INVESTIGATION: In Kwara, multimillion-naira milk processing plant is abandoned, converted to a chicken outlet
After the government spent millions of naira to establish a milk processing plant in Kwara State that would provided jobs...
SPECIAL REPORT: For Sokoto communities, promise of healthcare is akin to death sentence
In this story, ABDULRASHEED HAMMAD delves into the dire realities of Primary Health Care services in Sokoto State, shedding light...
ICYMI…SPECIAL REPORT: NNPCL hides behind PIA to frustrate disclosure, accountability
Nigeria’s major oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), in what appears to be a common practice of disregard...
INVESTIGATION: Multi-million naira Ekiti resort center remains uncompleted a decade after
The multimillion-naira project, expected to comprise recreational buildings, now consists of cassava farmland, a bush used for excretion, and a...
SPECIAL REPORT: Torturous experiences of students with disabilities in Oyo tertiary institutions
For students with disabilities in Oyo state-owned tertiary institutions, learning is a torturous and distressing experience, considering the building structures...