Gov. Oyetola free to contest

Abiodun OBA

A suit filed to disqualify Governor Adegboyega Oyetola as the APC’s candidate in Saturday’s governorship election, has been ruled as an abuse of the court process.

Justice Inyang Ekwo of Federal High Court in Abuja, declared that the suit filed by Alhaji Moshood Olalekan Adeoti against Oyetola had no iota of law supporting his claim.

The judge also agreed with the APC, the first 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’s 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 the court process.

Adeoti was Aregbesola’s anointed candidate in the primary and had hoped to upstage Oyetola.

When he failed in the primary, he made a legal challenge, in a suit filed through his legal team led by Chiesonu Okpoko, SAN.

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

He prayed the court to nullify Oyetola’s candidacy on the grounds that Oyetola contested in the poll as a member of the party’s Caretaker Extraordinary and Convention Planning Committee (CECPC).

Adeoti 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 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.

Upon resumption of the matter on Wednesday, Adeoti’s counsel, Mahmud Adesina, SAN, informed the court that the matter was adjourned for hearing and that he was ready to proceed with the case.