The supreme court has dismissed four appeals challenging the
election of Oladipupo Adebutu as the governorship candidate of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun state.
Delivering judgment on Tuesday, a five-member panel of the
apex court led by Kudirat Kekere-Ekun dismissed three of the appeals filed by
some PDP ward delegates in Ogun state on the grounds that they failed to
disclose a reasonable cause of action.
The court held that they have no locus standi to initiate
any court action against the outcome of the election since they were not
aspirants.
BACK STORY
Two factions of the PDP had conducted parallel primaries
that produced Adebutu and Segun Sowunmi as candidates of the party for the 2023
governorship election.
The primary which produced Sowunmi was said to have been
monitored by officials of the Inter-Party Advisory Council of Nigeria (IPAC).
However, the primary which produced Adebutu, a former member
of the house of representatives, is recognised by the national leadership of
the PDP.
Lawal had filed a suit to contest the delegate list used by
the Sikirulahi Ogundele faction during the primary that produced Adebutu.
Other candidates had also approached the court to challenge
the authenticity of the Ogundele-led executive of the party in the state.
Taiwo Taiwo, a judge at the federal high court, had declined
to hear Lawal’s suit.
But on September 30, a three-member panel of the court of
appeal held that the federal high court judge (now retired) was wrong to have
declined jurisdiction to entertain Lawal’s suit.
On November 21, the supreme court dismissed an appeal
brought before it by a PDP faction seeking to affirm Adebutu as the
governorship candidate.
In a unanimous judgment delivered by a five-member panel,
the apex court held that the Abuja federal high court was wrong to have
declined jurisdiction to hear the suit brought before it by Lawal.
Consequently, the apex directed the case to be returned to
the federal high court for retrial.
After the retrial, Adebutu was affirmed winner on December
1.
Consequently, INEC has listed Adebutu as the state’s
governorship candidate.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com