The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Thursday, dismissed a suit seeking the disqualification of Osun State governor Adegboyega Oyetola as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in Saturday, July 16 governorship election in the state.
A governorship aspirant on the APC platform in Osun, Moshood Adeoti, had filed the suit seeking the nullification of Oyetola’s candidacy on the grounds that the governor participated in the primary while serving as a member of the party’s Caretaker Extraordinary and Convention Planning Committee (CECPC).
The CECPC led by Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State handed over to the party’s new National Working Committee (NWC) led by Abdullahi Adamu in March this year.
Sued as defendants in the suit are the APC, Oyetola and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
But delivering judgement in the case on Thursday, the judge, Inyang Ekwo, held that “the plaintiff’s suit does not establish any cause of action.”
Agreeing with Oyetola and APC’s arguments, the judge said Adeoti’s “case constituted an abuse of court process.”
“I make an order dismissing this suit,” the judge held.
Ekwo said the APC’s CECPC’s is not part of the offices “provided for by the party’s constitution,” adding that it was just an ad hoc creation of the APC.
The judge clarified that Oyetola’s membership of the CECPC did not constitute a breach of Section 84 (12) of the Electoral Amendment 2022.
The controversial clause in the Electoral Amendment Act 2022, provides that “No political appointee at any level shall be a voting delegate or be voted for at the convention or congress of any political party for the purpose of the nomination of candidates for any election.”
Adeoti, who was an aspirant in the February 19 Osun APC governorship primary, had contended that Oyetola’s membership of the CECPC violated 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).
In the suit, Adeoti lawyer’s, Chiesonu Okpoko, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), argued that the governor should have resigned his membership of the (APC)’s CECPC and leave office as an officer of the party at least 30 days prior to the date of its primary election in Osun State primary election to qualify for participation in the said 1st defendant’s primary election.
But in a preliminary objection filed against the suit, the lawyer to the APC, A. I. Layonu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), said Oyetola tendered his resignation letter to the APC as a member of its committee on January 19 and that the party acknowledged its receipt.
He urged the court to dismiss the suit.
On his part, Oyetola’s lawyer, Olusegun Jolaolu (SAN), urged the court to dismiss the case for lacking in merit.
He noted that Oyetola resigned his membership of the CECPC before the day the primary poll took place.
While Bashir Abubakar, who appeared for INEC, said though the commission filed a counter affidavit and a written address, he said he left the outcome of the case to the decision of the court.
But counsel for the plaintiff, Mr Mahmud Adesina, also a senior advocate, argued that the purported resignation letter was a backdated one.
With the court’s verdict, the coast is now clear for Oyetola’s participation in Saturday’s governorship election in the state.
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