By Deborah Hassan
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has dismissed a suit which sought to challenge the validity of the Governorship primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from which Osun State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, emerged as candidate for the October 10 poll.
Delivering his judgement, Justice Okon Abang, ruled that the suit was status bar and, therefore, the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Akeredolu had won the governorship election by securing a total number of 292, 830 votes to beat other contestants in the race.
However, one of the aspirants in the primary poll, Dr. Nath Adojutelegan, had, on approached the court on August 3rd, 2020, seeking an order to nullify the election of Akeredolu and to direct a fresh election in the state on the ground that he was not validly elected as APC candidate.
According to him, the APC did not hold a valid governorship primary election on July 17 and 20.
The first, second and third defendants in the suit are the APC, Akeredolu and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) respectively.
Justice Abang held that the suit was filed out of time.
“This suit is hereby dismissed for want of jurisdiction,” he said.
Abang also ordered the plaintiff to pay the APC and Akeredolu N50,000 naira each.
(NAN)
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