Ahead of the the impending governorship election in Ondo State, an aggrieved aspirant, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, has approached the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, praying it to nullify the primary election the All Progressives Congress, APC, conducted in the state on April 20.
Senator Ibrahim urged the court to void the nomination of the incumbent governor of the state, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, as the flag-bearer of the party for the gubernatorial contest billed for November 16.
Cited as defendants in the suit, are; the APC, governor Aiyedatiwa and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Specifically, the plaintiff, who is currently representing Ondo South in the Senate, alleged that the primary election that produced Aiyedatiwa as candidate of the APC for the governorship election, was fraught with irregularities.
The plaintiff, through his team of lawyers led by Chief Chris Uche, SAN, maintained that the party acted in breach of sections 221, 228 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, as well as section 84 of the Electoral Act, 2022.
He alleged that some delegates that would have voted for him at the primary election were deliberately not accredited to participate in the exercise, a development he said made the primary election liable to be set aside and nullified.
Consequently, the plaintiff sought an order barring INEC from accepting governor Aiyedatiwa as the candidate of the APC for the Ondo state governorship election.
He prayed the court for an order of perpetual injunction, prohibiting governor Aiyedatiwa from holding himself out or parading himself as the APC governorship candidate.
As well as for an order to set aside the purported primary election and compel the APC to conduct a fresh one in compliance with sections 221, 228 of the 1999 Constitution and that of 84 of the Electoral Act 2022.
More so, the plaintiff urged the court to delist the names of the APC and Aiyedatiwa from list of political parties and candidates that would participate in the gubernatorial poll.
He further wants the APC and governor Aiyedatiwa to be stripped of all rights accruing to political parties and their candidates, except a fresh primary election is lawfully conducted for the purpose of nominating a candidate for the governorship poll.
When the matter was called up on Wednesday, Senator Ibrahim applied for leave of the court to serve the process on both the APC and governor Aiyedatiwa, via substituted means, by handing the documents to any staff of the party at its National Secretariat in Abuja.
In a brief ruling, Justice Inyang Ekwo okayed the service of the court processes on governor Aiyedatiwa, through the APC.
The court adjourned the matter till May 15 for hearing.
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