A Federal High Court in Akure has thrown out a lawsuit challenging the eligibility of Ondo State Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa and his deputy Olayide Adelami to run in the state’s 16 November 2024 governorship election, SAVANNAH NEWSNOW REPORTS.
Olugbenga Edema, the NNPP’s governorship candidate, had requested a court order to force INEC to withdraw the nomination and names of Aiyedatiwa and his deputy as APC candidates, alleging that Aiyedatiwa fraudulently obtained the APC governorship ticket, which Aiyedatiwa has since denied.
The NNPP candidate petitioned the court for an interpretation of Section 15 of the Third Schedule to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) regarding the APC candidates’ nomination, with Edema and NNPP as plaintiffs, and Aiyedatiwa, Adelami, INEC, and the APC as 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However, the NNPP, the second plaintiff, sought to be withdrawn from the suit, and its name was struck out as one of the plaintiffs, the request which the court expressly granted.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 was heard on Monday, Soladoye Ekundayo, counsel for the plaintiff, informed the court that he had filed an appeal against the ruling that struck NNPP’s name from the suit and requested an adjournment to allow the plaintiff to amend his pleadings. However, counsel for the defendants asked the court to dismiss the suit due to lack of diligent prosecution. Charles Edosanwon, who led the defendants, stated that the previous order was for the parties to make adjustments to their pleas following the removal of the first plaintiff’s name 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.
On Monday, Justice Toyin Bolaji Adegoke ruled that the notice of appeal did not automatically suspend proceedings and pointed out the lack of an affidavit to support the claim of a pending appeal.
She criticized the plaintiff for disregarding the court’s order, calling it self-serving, and noted that the failure to amend the pleadings had a significant impact on the case.
As a result, she dismissed the suit and imposed a fine of N100,000 on the plaintiff, stating that they did not deserve an adjournment.
