The Supreme Court has affirmed the nomination of Ekiti State governor Abiodun Oyebanji as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the June 20 governorship election, dismissing an appeal challenging the party’s primary election.
In a unanimous judgment delivered on Friday, a five-member panel of the apex court upheld the earlier decision of the Court of Appeal, Abuja, which had validated Oyebanji’s emergence as the APC flagbearer.
The court dismissed the appeal filed by APC governorship aspirant, Mrs. Abimbola Olawumi, describing it as lacking merit.
Olawumi had challenged the process that produced Oyebanji as the party’s candidate, alleging that she was unlawfully prevented from participating in the APC governorship primary and asking the court to nullify its outcome.
Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Mohammed Idris held that the appeal was incompetent and that the reliefs sought by the appellant could not be granted.
The court also upheld objections raised against applications filed by Olawumi on July 16 and July 23 seeking to regularise her notice of appeal and appellant’s brief.
Justice Idris ruled that the written address accompanying the July 16 application was unsigned and exceeded the page limit prescribed under Order 4 Rule 1 of the Supreme Court Rules.
Consequently, the apex court struck out the two applications and their accompanying written addresses.
The court further held that the first three grounds of the appeal were incompetent because they did not arise from the judgment of the Court of Appeal.
With the dismissal of the appeal, the Supreme Court effectively affirmed the validity of Oyebanji’s nomination as the APC governorship candidate.
