The Court of Appeal in Akure, Ondo State, on Wednesday affirmed the Osun State governor-elect, Ademola Adeleke, as the rightful Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship candidate in the just-concluded election.
The court affirmed Adeleke as PDP’s governorship candidate while dismissing 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 released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Adeleke was recognised as the duly-elected candidate to fly the PDP’s flag in the state governorship election.
In a judgment delivered on May 18, the judge, Nathaniel Ayo-Emmanuel, held that the primary election conducted at the WOCDIF Centre, Osogbo, on March 8, which produced Babayemi is null and void.
Dissatisfied 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.
