Osun: Oyetola Scales First Hurdle, As Court Okays His Candidacy

By Ayodele Oni

Governor Gboyega Oyetola of Osun state has scaled the first hurdle in his quest to rule the state a second time, after a Federal High Court in Abuja blocked an ttempt by an ally of former Governor Rauf Aregbesola and Minister of interior,to truncate his second term.

A suit, filed by Moshood Adeoti sought the disqualification of Governor Oyetola, as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the Saturday governorship election.

Adeoti was one of those that sought the ticket of APC during the February 19 primary election won by Oyetola, who is vying for the second term as Governor.

Delivering Judgement on Thursday, Justice Inyang Ekwo, stated that the plaintiff, Adeoti, failed to support the process with relevant laws, and as such, showed no cause of action in the suit which makes it a gross abuse of court process.

Justice Inyang added that the suit instituted falls outside the scope of section 87(9) of the Electoral Act and Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

Adeoti filed the case praying for the governor’s disqualification through his legal team led by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chiesonu Okpoko.

In the originating summons, he prayed the court to nullify Oyetola’s candidacy on the grounds that the governor contested in the poll as a member of the party’s Caretaker Extraordinary and Convention Planning Committee (CECPC).

The plaintiff said the act contravened the provisions of Section 222 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and Article 31(iii) of the APC, October 2014 (as amended).

According to him, the second defendant (Oyetola) ought to have resigned his membership of the APC’s CECPC and leave office as an officer of APC at least 30 days prior to the date of the Osun State primary election, to qualify for participation in the said party primary election.

Meanwhile, the APC faction loyal to Aregbesola said its members will still go ahead to vote for the party in Saturday’s election.

The party held its final campaign on Wednesday, attended by  Bola Tinubu, its presidential candidate, Abdullahi Adamu, the National Chairman and other party stalwarts.