A Federal High Court sitting in Akure, the Ondo State capital, has dismissed the suit challenging the eligibility of the Ondo State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, and his deputy, Olayide Adelami, for the 16 November 2024 governorship election in the state.
The governorship candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Olugbenga Edema, had sought the court’s order to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the nomination and the names of Aiyedatiwa of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and his deputy as candidates.
Mr Edema, who switched over to the NNPP after losing in the APC primaries, is challenging the APC governorship ticket obtained by Governor Aiyedatiwa, alleging that the ticket was fraudulently obtained. Meanwhile, Aiyedatiwa subsequently refuted this allegation.
The NNPP candidate approached the court to interpret the applicability of Section 15 of the Third Schedule to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) over the nomination of the APC candidates.
The suit named Edema and NNPP plaintiffs and Aiyedatiwa, Adelami, INEC, and the APC defendants.
However, the NNPP, the second plaintiff, sought to be withdrawn from the suit, and its name was struck out as one of the plaintiffs, the request which the court expressly granted.
When the case came up for hearing on Monday, the counsel for the plaintiff, Soladoye Ekundayo, said he had filed an appeal against the court ruling that struck out the name of NNPP from the suit. He told the court to grant an adjournment for the plaintiff to amend his pleadings.
However, counsel for Aiyedatiwa, Adelami, INEC and APC, Charles Edosanwon, Banjo Aiyenakin, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, and Remi Olatubora, respectively, asked the court to dismiss the suit for want of diligent prosecution.
Edosomwan, who led the defendants, said the order at the last adjourned date was for the parties to make consequential adjustments to their pleas, having struck out the name of the first plaintiff from the suit.
He said the fact that an appeal had been filed was not a stay of proceeding, but added that the plaintiff had not made any application before the court and asked the court to dismiss the case. He said the case must end so the parties could take all the issues to the Court of Appeal.
In her ruling on Monday, Justice Toyin Bolaji Adegoke said the notice of appeal does not automatically halt proceedings and noted the absence of an affidavit supporting the claim of a pending appeal.
She criticised the plaintiff’s disregard for the court’s order as self-serving and stated that the failure to amend the pleadings significantly impacted the case.
Consequently, she dismissed the suit and imposed a N100,000 fine on the plaintiff, stating that they did not warrant an adjournment.
