The Supreme Court has affirmed the judgment of the Court of Appeal upholding the nomination of Ekiti State Governor Abiodun Oyebanji as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the June 20 governorship election.
In a unanimous judgment delivered on Friday, a five-member panel of the apex court dismissed the appeal filed by APC governorship aspirant, Mrs. Abimbola Olawumi, describing it as lacking merit.
The court upheld the June 18 decision of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which had validated Oyebanji’s nomination.
Olawumi had challenged the APC governorship primary, alleging that she was unlawfully prevented from participating in the exercise as an aspirant. She asked the court to nullify the outcome of the primary that produced Oyebanji as the party’s candidate.
Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Mohammed Idris upheld preliminary objections challenging the competence of applications filed by Olawumi on July 16 and July 23 to regularise her notice of appeal and her appellant’s brief.
Justice Idris held that the written address accompanying the July 16 application was unsigned, rendering it incompetent. He also found that the application violated the pagination limits prescribed under Order 4 Rule 1 of the Supreme Court Rules.
The court consequently struck out the applications and the accompanying written addresses.
The apex court further held that grounds one, two and three of the appeal were incompetent because they did not arise from the judgment of the Court of Appeal.
According to the court, the issues distilled from those grounds were equally incompetent and liable to be struck out.
On the remaining grounds of appeal, Justice Idris ruled that the Court of Appeal was right in holding that Olawumi’s brief was incompetent despite her pending application seeking to regularise it.
The Supreme Court also upheld the appellate court’s refusal to invoke its powers under Section 15 of the Court of Appeal Act to determine Olawumi’s originating summons.
Justice Idris explained that the Court of Appeal could not assume jurisdiction to hear the substantive suit after affirming the Federal High Court’s finding that the case was statute-barred.
He added that the Supreme Court could not invoke its powers under Section 22 of the Supreme Court Act to determine the substantive originating summons because the constitutionally prescribed 180-day period for determining pre-election matters had already elapsed.
The judgment effectively brings to an end the legal challenge against Oyebanji’s emergence as the APC governorship candidate.
(The Whistler)