The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court on Thursday dismissed a suit seeking the disqualification of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in Saturday’s gubernatorial election in Osun.

Delivering judgment, Justice Inyang Ekwo, declared that the suit filed by a chieftain of the APC, Moshood Olalekan Adeoti, against Mr Oyetola was an abuse of court process.

Mr Ekwo held that there was no iota of law supporting Mr Adeoti’s process filed before the court.

The judge also agreed with the APC (the first defendant) that the court could not assume jurisdiction on the matter on the ground that there was no cause of action for filing the suit.

Mr Ekwo also held that Mr Adeoti, an aspirant in the February 19 governorship primary election of the APC, in his application, also admitted that he did not exhaust the party’s internal mechanism before filing the suit.

Consequently, the judge dismissed the suit in its entirety for being an abuse of court process.

Mr Adeoti, the plaintiff in the suit, filed the matter through his legal team led by Chiesonu Okpoko (SAN).

In the suit, Mr Adeoti listed the APC, Mr Oyetola and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as first, second and third defendants, respectively. In the originating summons dated February 22 and filed on February 23, prayed the court to nullify Mr Oyetola’s candidacy on the ground that the incumbent governor contested in the poll as a member of the party’s Caretaker Extraordinary and Convention Planning Committee (CECPC).

Mr Adeoti said the act contravened 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, Mr Oyetola ought to have resigned his membership of the APC’s CECPC at least 30 days prior to the date of Osun’s primary election to qualify for participation in the primary.

(NAN)