Tuesday, the Supreme Court rejected four challenges related to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship dispute in Ogun state.
Following the withdrawal of the appeals by the appropriate attorneys, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun presided over a panel of five other Justices and rejected them.
The governorship candidates, Otunba Jimi Lawal, and a few ward delegates filed appeals, but those appeals were rejected on the grounds that the appellants lacked standing to file them.
One of the appeals, brought by Tayo Olabode against Oladipupo Adebutu, the PDP candidate for governor of Ogun State, was denied on the grounds that the delegates who brought the action lacked locus standi (legal standing).
As they were not candidates in the election, it was agreed that the delegates who claimed to have been denied voting rights in the PDP primary election that produced Adebutu cannot file any legal claims against the primary election.
The supreme court ruled that only an aspirant in a primary election held to nominate candidates for office, and not any other party member, may constitutionally dispute the results.
In another appeal, which was based on the failure to serve the defendant with the first summons, the court determined that because the wronged party was involved from the start to finish, the question of service was no longer the most important one.
Tayo Olabode, who was in charge of a group of the ward delegates, claimed in a lawsuit on their behalf that they were denied the right to vote in the governorship primary.
He specifically asked the court to annul the primary election that gave rise to Adebutu on the grounds that illegal delegates presided over the primary.
Despite the ward delegates' ire, the supreme court unanimously held that they lack the legal right to contest a primary election in which they were not candidates.
The appellant attorneys Chikwudi Enebeli and Deji Eniseyin announced that they were painfully withdrawing the cases of their clients in light of the results.
As a result, Kekere-Ekun dismissed the appeals on the grounds that they were without merit.
Recall that the Federal High Court has jurisdiction to hear the case, and the top court ordered a prompt hearing of the lawsuit in a lead judgement written by Justice Ibrahim Saulawa.
A Federal High Court in Abuja dismissed a lawsuit filed by PDP chairman Otunba Adebisi Lawal on December 1, 2022, in accordance with the Supreme Court's directive. The lawsuit sought to have Oladipupo Adebutu disqualified from running for governor of Ogun state in 2023.
The party's gubernatorial candidate had been contested by Lawal and Adebutu before to the general elections of 2023.
In a ruling, the sitting judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo, stated that he had not seen any specific documentation from the plaintiff to back up his assertion that the PDP had utilised an illegal delegate list to hold the April 30 Ward Congress in Ogun state.
The plaintiff served as a spoiler through the lawsuit, the court observed, and it was decided that the lawsuit was an afterthought.
The court believed that the plaintiff had introduced pleadings that were absent from the original summons in a subsequent affidavit.
“I have no reason to say that the primary election was invalid, null and void.
“Upon reviewing the evidence, I find that the plaintiff attempted to use a further affidavit to amend his originating summons.
“The case of the plaintiff has been debunked by exhibits of the defendants.
“I find that the case of the plaintiff lacks credible evidence and I make an order dismissing the case,” the judge said. (NAN)