Court rules against Agboola Ajayi’s bid to nullify nomination of Aiyedatiwa, deputy

A federal high court in Akure has dismissed a suit seeking to disqualify candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the November 16 Ondo governorship election.

The presiding judge, Toyin Bolaji Adegoke, on Monday, held that Agboola Ajayi, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), lacked the locus standi to challenge the candidacy of the APC flagbearers.

For the off-cycle election, the APC fielded Lucky Aiyedatiwa, the governor of Ondo, as its governorship candidate and Olayide Adelami as his running mate.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared candidates of the APC as election winners.

THE CASE

Ajayi had approached the court to challenge the qualification of Adelami, citing inconsistency in the names on the certificates he submitted to INEC.

The PDP candidate, through his lawyer, M. Ndoka, told the court that Adelami is known by multiple and inconsistent names, including Adelami Owolabi Jackson and Olaide Owolabi Adelami.

Ajayi argued that the discrepancies rendered Adelami ineligible to contest the election.

He asked the court to disqualify the APC from contesting the election, arguing that the party did not have validly nominated governorship and deputy governorship candidates for the election.

“That the first defendant, (Adelami), is constitutionally disqualified from contesting the election as deputy governorship candidate of APC,” Ajayi told the court.

“A declaration that the APC has no validly nominated governorship and deputy governorship candidate for the 2024 election.”

In his defense, Remi Olatubora, counsel to Adelami, told the court that the West African Examination Council (WAEC) result has the name Adelami Owolabi Jackson in 1974 and that a degree certificate from Ambrose Alli University issued in 1982 has the name Adelami Olaide Owolabi.

He said the grievance of the plaintiffs is not about discrepancies in the name but the order or arrangements of the names.

Olatubora said the plaintiffs have no right to file the suit following section 29(5) of the Electoral Act 2022, noting that they are not members of the APC and did not participate in the primary that produced Adelami and Aiyedatiwa as candidates.

“The plaintiffs lack the locus standi to file the suit or seek the reliefs set out in the originating summons. That the suit, as a matter of law, does not qualify as a pre-election matter, and this court lacks jurisdiction,” the counsel said.

THE JUDGMENT

The judge held that the case is statute-barred, having been filed outside the 14 days required by the Electoral Act.

Adegoke ruled that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the suit, having been filed through originating summons instead of a writ of summons.

She added that the issue involving certificate forgery and perjury is criminal, which requires the evidence from authorities that issued the certificates in question.

The judge held that Ajayi does not have the legal standing to contest the candidacy of Aiyedatiwa and Adelami since he was not an aspirant in the APC primary.