A Federal High Court in Abuja presided by Justice Eyang Ekwo has dismissed the suit filed by Alhaji Moshood Olalekan Adeoti ,an ally of Minister of Interior,Rauf Aregbesola seeking to challenge the candidacy of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola in Saturday’s Governorship election in Osun State.
Justice Ekwo on Thursday ruled that the suit filed by Alhaji Moshood Olalekan Adeoti against Oyetola was an abuse of the court process as there was no iota of law supporting Adeoti’s claim.
The judge held that Adeoti, who was 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 February 19 APC Gubernatorial Primary in Osun.
Following his defeat at the primary, he moved to disqualify the governor using the court through his legal team led by Chiesonu Okpoko, SAN.
In the dismissed 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.
