The Court of Appeal in Akure, Ondo State, has affirmed the Osun State governor-elect, Ademola Adeleke, as the rightful Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, governorship candidate in the just-concluded election.
The court on Wednesday affirmed Adeleke as PDP’s governorship candidate and dismissed a suit by Dotun Babayemi, a governorship aspirant, against the Governor-elect.
Babayemi initially instituted a suit against Adeleke before a Federal High Court in Osogbo, seeking to declare him PDP’s governorship candidate in the just-concluded governorship election in the state.
On March 8, 2021, two factions of the party conducted separate governorship primaries featuring Adeleke and Babayemi. But, the PDP National Working Committee, NWC, had backed the faction that produced Adeleke.
In a list of candidates later publishsed by INEC, senator Adeleke was recognised as the duly-elected candidate to fly the PDP’s flag in the state’s governorship election.
In a judgment delivered on May 18, the judge, Nathaniel Ayo-Emmanuel, held that the PDP primary election conducted at the WOCDIF Centre, Osogbo, on March 8, which produced Babayemi is null and void.
Having not satisfied with the ruling, Babayemi filed a suit at the Court of Appeal in Akure, challenging the judgment of the lower court.
He sought to be declared the winner of the PDP governorship primary election.
However, the Court of Appeal, in its judgment on Wednesday, upheld the verdict of the High Court and consequently dismissed Babayemi’s appeal.
