Osun PDP: Adeleke wins again, as Supreme Court dismisses Babayemi’s suit

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the victory of the Osun State Governor-elect, Ademola Adeleke, in the Peoples Democratic Party primary election held in the state.

The PDP governorship aspirant, Dotun Babayemi, had approached the Supreme Court to set aside the rulings of the lower courts which upheld Ademola’s victory in the election held in January this year.

Justice Nathaniel Ayo-Emmanuel of the Federal High Court, Osogbo, had on May 18 declared the respondent as duly elected candidate of the PDP for the July 16 election in Osun State.

Read also:Osun PDP tackles APC over court papers served on Gov-elect, Adeleke

The Court of Appeal, Osogbo, upheld the ruling on July 20.

At Thursday’s proceeding, a five-member panel of the apex court led by Justice Amina Augie held that the appeal filed by Babayemi was filed out of time.

Justice Augie, who delivered the lead judgment, said the appeal was filed after the deadline, hence the apex court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case.

Section 285(11) of the constitution required that an appeal on a pre-election matter be filed within 14 days of the day of the decision.

The judge, therefore, dismissed the appeal on the jurisdiction.

Adeleke was elected the Osun State governor after defeating the incumbent governor, Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the July 16 election in the state.

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