Court affirms Arobo as APC candidate for Owo/Ose federal seat

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has affirmed Abdulghani Arobo as the authentic candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Owo/Ose Federal Constituency seat in the House of Representatives.

Arobo had sued the APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/26, challenging the outcome of the party’s primary election held on May 16, 2026, in Ondo State.

Delivering judgment on Wednesday, Justice Peter Lifu upheld Arobo’s victory, ruling that he scored the majority of the lawful votes cast in the primary: 7,959 votes in Owo Local Government Area and 2,583 votes in Ose Local Government Area.

The judge held that, having summed up the votes cast across the 23 wards of the federal constituency, Arobo was entitled to be declared the lawful winner and nominated to INEC as the APC’s candidate for the seat in the forthcoming general election.

Justice Lifu set aside any other declaration or purported return by the APC that conflicted with Arobo’s victory and resolved all five questions raised by the plaintiff in his favour.

The court ordered the APC and INEC to recognise, accept and deal exclusively with Arobo as the winner of the May 16 primary, and restrained the defendants from dealing with any other person in respect of the seat.

Justice Lifu further directed INEC to reopen its portal to remove any previously uploaded name and upload Arobo’s name as the lawful candidate for the Owo/Ose Federal Constituency House of Representatives seat.