The Federal High Court in the nation's capital on 14th July 2022, dismissed the suit requesting the disqualification of the All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate Adegboyega Oyetola for contesting the July 16th gubernatorial election in Osun state. The court, in a judgment delivered by Justice Inyang Ekwo, held that the suit that sought to invalidate Oyetola’s nomination as APC flag-bearer of the APC lacked merit and deserved to be dismissed.
The suit was filed by an APC aspirant, Moshood Adeoti seeking the nullification of Mr. Oyetol's candidacy on the ground that the governor participated in the primary while serving as a member of the party's Caretaker Extraordinary and Convention Planning Committee (CECPC).
Plaintiff argued that the APC violated Section 22(2) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Article 31(iii) of its own Constitution, by allowing Defendant to run for re-election, while still in position as a member of the committee.
Adeoti, through his team of lawyers led by Chiesonu Okpoko, SAN, maintained that Governor Oyetola ought to have resigned his membership of the said committee, at least 30 days before the primary election was held on February 19. He, therefore, urged the court to void Oyetola’s candidacy.
The court held that the suit, which it said was an abuse of the judicial process, was not backed by relevant laws, adding that it was brought outside the scope of Section 87(9) of the Electoral Act and Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
It stressed that Plaintiff failed to exhaust the internal mechanism for dispute resolution provided by the party before he instituted the action.
More so, the court noted that the CECPC, of which governor Oyetola was a member, was an ad-hoc body and not the substantive National Executive Committee, NEC, of the APC that is recognized by the party’s Constitution.
Justice Ekwo said the CECPC was a mere ad-hoc body that was put in place in the absence of the NEC that is known to the law, even as he agreed that the issue of nomination of candidates for elective offices, is an internal affair of parties which no court can inquire into except where expressly stated by law.
Consequently, the court dismissed the suit for not disclosing any cause of action against the Defendants.
