A suit seeking the disqualification of Senator Olamilekan Adeola as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Ogun West Senatorial District has been dismissed by a Federal High Court sitting in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
The case FHC/AB/CS/132/2022 as instituted by Johnson Akinsanya Akindele and 2 Others as plaintiffs against Senator Adeola and 3 Others as defendants, was struck out by Justice Joyce Obehi Abdulmalik with an explanation that the plaintiffs lack locus standi to institute the case.
The plaintiffs had sought clarity on portions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), the Electoral Act 2022 and the Constitution of the All Progressives Congress to determine the legality of Adeola’s nomination by the APC to contest the party’s primaries and the 2023 National Assembly election on the platform of the APC for Ogun West Senatorial District.
The plaintiffs argued that Adeola is the incumbent senator representing Lagos West in the National Assembly claiming that he infringed upon the Provision of Section 65(2) (b) of the Electoral Act 2022 and article 9(1) and 20 of the APC Constitution and yet kept parading himself as the APC’s nominated candidate for the office of senator for Ogun West while still serving as senator representing Lagos West Senatorial District.
In dismissing the case, the court also awarded a cost of N4 million each in favour of two defendants: the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the APC against the plaintiffs.
