Justice Nimpar Yargata of the Appeal Court said the trial court fell into error by nullifying the primaries which produced Adebutu despite been conducted by the NWC of the PDP.
By Jeffrey Agbo
A Court of Appeal sitting in Ibadan has reinstated Oladipupo Adebutu as the validly elected governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun.
Also on Monday, the appellate court reinstated the three senatorial, nine House of Representatives and 26 House of Assembly candidates of PDP who all emerged through the party’s primaries.
All the reinstated candidates had emerged from the party’s primaries conducted by the National Working Committee (NWC) and monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
On September 27, Justice O.O Oguntoyinbo of the Federal High Court in Abeokuta voided the PDP primaries that produced Adebutu and others.
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Justice Oguntoyinbo, in his judgment, directed the party to conduct fresh primaries within 14 days.
Dissatisfied with the judgment, the PDP and Adebutu appealed the verdict and asked the appellate court to set aside the lower court’s decision.
Justice Nimpar Yargata of the Appeal Court, in her judgment, said the trial court fell into error by nullifying the primaries which produced Adebutu despite been conducted by the NWC of the PDP.
Yargata said that Taiwo Idris and others who instituted the case at the lower court were not aspirants of the party and consequently had no locus standi to challenge the outcome of the primaries.
She said that the court’s decision in APC versus Umar, which the respondents relied heavily upon in their submissions before the court, had been overtaken by the current provision of the Electoral Act 2022.
The provision of the Electoral Act 2022 says only aspirants can query the outcome of primary elections.