A Federal High Court sitting in Akure, Ondo State, has dismissed a suit challenging the eligibility of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa and his deputy, Olayide Adelami, as candidates for the 16 November 2024 governorship election in the state.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The suit was filed by Olugbenga Edema, the governorship candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), who had switched to the NNPP after losing in the All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries. Edema sought to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the nomination of Aiyedatiwa and Adelami, alleging that Aiyedatiwa’s APC governorship ticket was fraudulently obtained. Governor Aiyedatiwa, however, denied these allegations.
Edema had approached the court to interpret the applicability of Section 15 of the Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution regarding the nomination of the APC candidates. In the suit, Edema and NNPP were named as plaintiffs, while Aiyedatiwa, Adelami, INEC, and APC were defendants. However, the NNPP later sought to withdraw from the case, and the court granted their request, striking the party’s name from the suit.
At the hearing on Monday, the plaintiff’s counsel, Soladoye Ekundayo, informed the court of an appeal filed against the ruling that struck out the NNPP from the case and requested an adjournment for the plaintiff to amend his pleadings. In response, counsel for the defendants—Aiyedatiwa, Adelami, INEC, and APC—argued that the case should be dismissed due to a lack of diligent prosecution, emphasizing that the plaintiff had failed to comply with the court’s order to amend the pleadings.
Justice Toyin Bolaji Adegoke, presiding over the case, stated that the notice of appeal filed by the plaintiff did not automatically halt proceedings. She also pointed out the absence of an affidavit supporting the appeal and criticized the plaintiff for disregarding the court’s order, calling it self-serving. The judge noted that the plaintiff’s failure to amend the pleadings significantly impacted the case, leading to the dismissal of the suit.
Additionally, Justice Adegoke imposed a N100,000 fine on the plaintiff for failing to adhere to the court’s directives, concluding that no further adjournments were warranted.
