Court dismisses suit seeking the disqualification of Oyetola as Osun APC governorship candidate

Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a suit seeking the disqualification of Osun State Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the July 16 governorship election scheduled to hold in the state.

Moshood Adeoti, a chieftain of the APC had approached the court to disqualify Oyetola who he lost the APC governorship ticket during the party’s governorship primary held on February 19, 2022.

In an application filed by his legal team led by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chiesonu Okpoko, Adeoti had prayed the court to nullify Oyetola’s candidacy on the grounds that the governor contested in the poll as a member of the party’s Caretaker Extraordinary and Convention Planning Committee (CECPC).

The plaintiff said 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 second defendant (Oyetola) ought to have resigned his membership of the APC’s CECPC and leave office as an officer of APC at least 30 days prior to the date of the Osun State primary election, to qualify for participation in the said party primary election.

Delivering judgment today July 14, Justice Ekwo ruled that Adeoti failed to support the process with relevant laws, and as such, showed no cause of action in the suit which makes it a gross abuse of the court process.

Justice Inyang added that the suit instituted falls outside the scope of section 87(9) of the Electoral Act and Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.