Osun: S’Court Affirms Adeleke’s Nomination as PDP Candidate

Alex Enumah in Abuja

The Supreme Court, yesterday, affirmed the nomination of Senator Ademola Adeleke as candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the just concluded governorship election in Osun State.
The apex court, in a unanimous decision, affirmed Adeleke’s nomination after dismissing a suit by an aggrieved governorship aspirant, Oyedotun Babayemi, for being incompetent and lacking in merit.
According to Justice Amina Augie, who led the panel, the suit of the appellant was incompetent, because it was filed out of the time duration allowed by law in a pre-election matter.
Babayemi had approached the apex court to set aside the decisions of the lower courts, which upheld Adeleke’s emergence as candidate of the PDP.
Both Babayemi and Senator Adeleke had locked horns in a legal battle over, who was validly elected after parallel primaries were conducted in different locations of the state capital, Osogbo.
He claimed that his primary was the authentic primary, which ought to be recognised by INEC and the court, as such, should declare him rightful candidate of the party.
However, the case was dismissed by the apex court for want of jurisdiction.
The appellant had filed two notices of appeals but had predicated his case on the one the apex court held was filed out of time.
“A pre-election matter has a period of 14 days, and like a rock of Gibrata, cannot be moved”, Justice Augie, held, adding that, there is nothing before the court to invoke its jurisdiction.
Efforts by counsel to the appellant, Adebayo Adelodun (SAN) to convince the panel to take a look at the merits of the appeal proved abortive as the court held that it lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
The Appeal, having been withdrawn by the counsel to the appellant, the court consequently dismissed it.
Prior to the Osun governorship election, different primaries produced Babayemi and Adeleke but the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) recognised Adeleke as the authentic candidate of the party.
Babayemi challenged the recognition of Adeleke as the candidate of the party before the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal Court but lost and he approached the Supreme Court after Adeleke emerged the authentic candidate of the party.
Justice Nathaniel Ayo-Emmanuel of a Federal High Court, sitting in Osogbo, had on May 18, upheld the governorship primary that produced Adeleke.

Also, the Court of Appeal, Akure Division, in its judgment of July 20, affirmed the decision of the Federal High Court, Osogbo, and dismissed Babayemi’s appeal.