Fed. High Court Sacks Oluyede As Ekiti PDP Gov. Candidate

By Ayodele Oni

A Federal High Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti, has sacked Wole Oluyede as the flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and ordered a rerun of the party’s primary election.

In his ruling, Justice Babs Kuewumi upheld the concerns of irregularities raised by Prince Funso Ayeni during the exercise.

Ayeni had challenged the process, citing the questionable manipulation of the approved delegate list on the day of the election, an action that undermined transparency, internal democracy and fairness.

The court found that the gross abuse of process, disregard for electoral guidelines, and violation of the fundamental principles governing the Peoples Democratic Party were inconsistent with both party rules and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which binds all individuals and institutions without exception.

Oluyede’s name has been missing on the list of political parties’ candidate earlier displayed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

In his reaction, the South-West zonal Publicity Secretary of PDP, Mr Sanya Atofarati noted that the party has the right to appeal the judgment, exuding confidence that PDP’s legal team will act on it immediately.

Atofarati maintained that the court ruling does not stop the arrangement of the party for the forthcoming election, as campaign committee has been constituted with massive grassroot mobilisation across Ekiti, ahead of the June 20 governorship poll.

He described the complaint as a conspiracy against the party and its flag bearer, especially in the case of a primary election that was free and fair, as reported by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Officials monitoring the exercise.

His words, “It will appear like a setback going to the fact that by now, people are resolved to change the government in the state because of the underperformance of the current administration.

“So, looking at other alternatives, Ekiti people have been able to say that the People’s Democratic Party is the only political party that has been tested and is trusted.

“And they are looking inward to look at what PDP, the caliber of candidates the People’s Democratic Party will nominate in the election. And the party in its result, after a thorough process of party primaries, the delegates in the primary, elected Dr. Wole Oluyede as the candidate.

“And that being said, some aggrieved members or aspirants of the party went to court to ask the court to nullify the process of the primaries.

“One of the aspirants willfully withdrew her own petition. The party was left with one aspirant. So now the aspirant is asking the court to give judgment to declare the process nullified.

“Now the court has answered that and the process was being said to have been nullified but the truth is, it is the first leg of the judicial process, which means the party has the right to appeal this judgment and I believe the party’s legal team are looking into that and will react appropriately.

“However, Ekiti people need to understand the level of conspiracy against the choice of the People’s Democratic Party and its candidates in this 2026 election. We must continue to remain resolute.

“We are not going to be distracted, the people should expect that we are not relenting and they should be aware that our members have commenced the mobilization drive from units to unit word to word and across the 16 local government of Ekiti state.”