Court rejects a petition seeking to sack Akeredolu

The Federal High Court in Abuja has been hit by a lawsuit seeking to reverse Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu’s candidacy on the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the last governorship election in Ondo State.

Nathaniel Adojutelegan filed the complaint after the party introduced an indirect mode of primary for the choice of its nominee for the election.

Judge Okon Abang, who ruled on the case on Wednesday, December 16, upheld the arguments put forward by APC and Akeredolu (listed as the first and second defendants) that the action was prohibited by law, having been lodged beyond the 14-day period permitted under Section 285(9) of the Constitution for pre-election proceedings.

Abang noted that while the cause of action emerged when the APC Election Committee headed by Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State declared the adoption of the indirect primary on July 17, 2020, on August 3, 2020, Adojutelegan decided to file his lawsuit.

He then proceeded to dismiss the case on the basis that the issues presented were pre-primary issues related to the APC’s internal affairs.