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Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Abuja division of the Court of Appeal has dismissed the appeal seeking the disqualification of the Ogun State Governor-elect, Adedapo Abiodun, over alleged false information to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
A three-member panel of the appellate court led by Justice Datti Yahaya, in a unanimous judgement held that the appeal lacked merit.
The appellant, Abdulrafiu Baruwa, had in the dismissed appeal asked the court to set aside the judgement of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) which dismissed the suit challenging the non-disqualification of Gov-elect Abiodun, for failure to declare his full academic qualifications and failure to participate in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme.
At the hearing of the appeal, counsel to Baruwa, Kanu Agabi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), argued that the trial court erred in law by not disqualifying Abiodun of the All Progressives Congress (APC), on March 7, 2019 for giving false information to INEC.
However, counsel to the APC, Damian Dodo (SAN), argued that the high court lacked the territorial jurisdiction to entertain the suit from the beginning.
In his submission, counsel to Abiodun, Kehinde Ogunwumiju (SAN), argued that the suit was filed outside the 14 days provided by Section 285 (9) (the 4th Alteration) of Act of 2017.
He added that the refusal by the governor-elect to include his qualification was not a breach of Section 31(6) of the Electoral Act, 2010.
He added that Abiodun was qualified to contest the election based on the provision of Sections 177 and 182 of the 1999 Constitution, adding: “How could he have been obligated to disclose what he is not obligated to possess?”
