Osun: Court Strike Out Suit Seeking To Disqualify Oyetola As APC Governorship Candidate

A suit seeking to disqualify the Osun State Governor, Gboyega Oyetola, as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been dismissed by a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja.

The governorship election in the state had been scheduled by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for July 16th.

Justice Inyang Ekwo, while delivering the judgement on Thursday, said the plaintiff, Moshood Adeoti, (a governorship aspirant in the party) 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 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.

Naija News had earlier reported that Adeoti, through his legal team led by Chiesonu Okpoko (SAN), had filed the suit against Oyetola.

The governorship aspirant in the summon, prayed the court to nullify Oyetola’s candidacy because 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 before the date of the Osun State primary election to qualify for participation in the governorship primary.

The suit was, however, dismissed by Justice Ekwo on Thursday.