Ondo Poll: Court Dismisses Suit Challenging Akeredolu’s Validity To Contest APC Primaries
A Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday dismissed a suit challenging the validity of the primary election that produced Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu as the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the 2020 election in Ondo State.
In a judgment delivered by Justice Iyang Ekwo, the court held that the suit instituted by Olajumoke Anifowose was statute-barred having been filed outside the 14 days allowed by law for a pre-election matter.
The plaintiff in the suit filed on her behalf by Adesina Oke, contended that section 87 of the electoral Act and article 20 of the APC Constitution were violated in the primaries by the state executive committee and local government committee that conducted the election.
Anifiwoshe had prayed the court for an order declaring the primaries null and void and to bar the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from recognising Rotimi Akeredolu as the governorship candidate of the APC in Ondo State.
Justice Ekwo, while dismissing the suit, noted that Mr. Akeredolu was nominated by the APC on the 20th of July 2020 and the plaintiffs filed the suit on the 29th of the same month which fell within 14 days required by law but the suit became incompetent due to the withdrawal of the initial originating summons and its substitution on the 20th of August 2020.
