Court Gives Judgment on Ondo APC Crisis April 17

James Sowole in Akure

The two rivals struggling over control of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ondo State, Mr Isaacs Kekemeke and Mr Ade Adetimehin will on April 7, 2018 know their fate on the suit over the party’s chairmanship seat.

This is sequel to the fixing of judgment date by Federal High Court Akure, Ondo State capital.

The suit was being challenging the emergence of Mr. Ade Adetimehin as the Acting Chairman of the APC in Ondo State and the suspension of Mr Isaacs Kekemeke as the party’s state chairman.

In the suit FHC/AK/CS/45/2017, the plaintiffs Messrs Gboyega Adedipe and Desmond Dejumola through their counsel, Mr. Olu Akinola were asking the court to nullify decisions reached at a meeting of the APC state executive council where Kekemeke was suspended as the party’s chairman last year, noting that the meeting did not form a quorum.

Kekemeke was indicted by the disciplinary committee set up by State Executive Committee (SEC) of the party last year over alleged anti-party affairs.

In his submission, lawyer to Mr. Adetimehin and the APC, Mr. Femi Emodamori, argued that the two plaintiffs lack locus standi to instituted the case because they had defected to the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and that the duo had resigned as the party’s state Vice Chairman (Ondo Central) and the state Legal Adviser since 2016.

Emodamori therefore prayed the court to dismiss the suit since the plaintiffs had also failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the APC executive meeting where Kekemeke was suspended was not properly constituted.

Also, the counsel to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants, Mr. Charles Titiloye, said the case lack merit, praying the court to see the plaintiffs as busybodies who had left APC for another political party and failed to join necessary parties in the case.

However, counsel to the plaintiffs, Akinola argued that the disciplinary committee set up to investigate Kekemeke was unconstitutional, saying the committee was not constituted in line with the party’s constitution.

After listening to the submission of both counsels, Justice J. A. Olubanjo adjourned the case till April 17, this year for judgment.