Appeal court affirms Adeleke as PDP guber candidate for Osun election

The court of appeal in Akure, Ondo state, has dismissed a suit filed by Dotun Babayemi, governorship hopeful of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), against Ademola Adeleke.

Babayemi had taken Adeleke before a federal high court in Osogbo, seeking to be declared as the PDP candidate for the July 16 governorship election in Osun state.

Two factions of the party had on March 8, 2021, conducted separate governorship primaries featuring Adeleke and Babayemi.

Babayemi was declared the winner of the primary election held at the Children and Women Development Centre in Osogbo, while the primary election held at Osogbo City Stadium and backed by the PDP national working committee produced Adeleke.

In a list of candidates later released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Adeleke was recognised as the duly-elected candidate to fly the flag of the PDP in the governorship election in the state.

In a judgment delivered on May 18, Nathaniel Ayo-Emmanuel, the judge, held that the primary election conducted at the WOCDIF Centre, Osogbo, on March 8, which produced Babayemi is null and void.

Dissatisfied with the ruling, Babayemi filed a suit at the court of appeal, Akure, challenging the judgment of the lower court and seeking to be declared as the PDP governorship candidate.

The court of appeal in its judgment on Wednesday upheld the verdict of the high court and consequently dismissed Babayemi’s appeal.

On July 16, Adeleke was declared the winner of the governorship election by INEC.

He secured 403, 371 votes to defeat Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who polled 375,027 votes.