More intrigues have trailed the twist in witnessed in the case involving Senator Ademola Adeleke whose candidacy was nullified by a court.
The matter is still generating reactions since that judgment was given despite Adeleke winning at the Osun State Election Petition Tribunal against Governor Gboyega Oyetola of the ruling All Proogressives Congress, APC.
Dr Akin Ogunbiyi, the runner up gubernatorial aspirant during the Osun PDP gubernatorial primary has said he has no hands in the travail of Senator Ademola Adeleke.
Recall that Adeleke’s emergence as the governorship candidate of the party was nullified by a Bwari court.
According to Daily Post, a press release made available to reporters on Thursday by Mr. Kunle Omolere, the Director of Strategy of Ogunbiyi’s campaign team claimed that his principal only challenged his denial of the candidacy of Osun West Senatorial ticket, adding that the case had been decided.
“It is on record that the only case instituted by Dr Ogunbiyi was that of Osun West Senatorial ticket which was brazenly taken away from him after all reconciliations to the contrary. The case had long been decided and the rest is left to posterity”, he said.
Ogunbiyi pledged his loyalty to the PDP but noted that there is nothing wrong with somebody approaching the court to seek justice when cheated.
“The pursuit of the mandate of the PDP at the tribunal and other courts is the priority of all party members, and to the benefits of Osun people who are counting on the PDP. Let it be clear that Dr Ogunbiyi is not doing and will not do anything to frustrate or undermine this shared vision. It should also be clearly understood as well that if anybody is alleged to have acted in contrary to the law, he/she is obliged to rationally defend him/herself in the court and not put blames on an innocent man.’’
In another development, the main opposition party in Delta State has suffered an unfavourable judgement following the decision of a court.
A Federal High Court sitting in Asaba, Delta State capital, has sacked Great Ogboru as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the recently concluded election in the State. Justice Nnamdi Dimgba in his ruling on Thursday nullified the candidature of Ogboru.
In a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1085/ 2018, Victor Ochei, Ogboru’s contender, had challenged the declaration of Ogboru as the governorship candidate of the party in the September 2018 primary held in the state.
Through his lawyer, Ahmed Rahi (SAN), Ochei prayed the court to declare that the APC governorship primary election that held on September 30, 2018, was illegal on the grounds that unknown delegates were used for the exercise. Ochei urged the court to, among other things, invalidate the results of the APC primaries, arguing that the list of delegates used at the primaries was not that envisaged by the consent judgment. He held that aspirants did not get any advanced list of delegates prior to the APC primaries.
Justice Dimgba ordered the cancellation of the APC governorship primaries that produced Great Ogboru, and granted four of the five reliefs sought by the plaintiff.
The Judge, however, refused to grant relief four.
“All the reliefs sought in this suit are similar with those for which Justice Tosin Adegoke pronounced judgement on, so reliefs 1, 2, 3, 5 are granted, but relief 4 is refused, because the governorship election is over and the relief is spent,” the Judge said.
The judge pointed out that the Federal High Court has one jurisdiction and, as such, cannot be seen giving discordant judgement, adding that “having considered the decisions reached by the Federal High Court in the case of Cyril Ogodo, which has similar reliefs, and the fact that some of the defendants in this suit are the same, the court has decided to follow the decisions arrived at in the Ogodo case.”
The party and Ogboru are yet to reveal their next course of action after the judgment of the court.
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