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A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Thursday struck out a suit seeking the nullification of the submission of the name of Senator Ademola Jackson Nurudeen Adeleke as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the July 26, 2022 Governorship election in Osun State.
The trial judge, Justice Obiora Egwuatu while striking out the suit, ruled that the plaintiff has no locus standi to institute the case.
The plaintiff in the suit, Mr. Awoyemi Oluwatayo Lukman had sued the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the PDP and Senator Adeleke before the court praying the Court to grant an order voiding the nomination and submission of the name of the Governor-elect, Adeleke to INEC.
Lukman particularly urged the Court to set aside the submission of Senator Adeleke’s name to INEC on ground of alleged unlawful action, saying that Adeleke’s name was hurriedly submitted by the PDP on March 11, 2022 as against submitting it between March 14 and 18, 2022 as contained in the INEC guidelines.
He said that Adeleke’s name having not been submitted within the period fixed by INEC, should be declared illegal, unlawful, null and void thus, should be set aside.
Lukman also said that INEC must be bound by its official guidelines, adding that anything done outside the guidelines is against the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.
But, in his ruling, Justice Egwuatu declared that the plaintiff, Lukman lacked the locu standi to have instituted the case and therefore struck it out.
Justice Egwuatu also ruled that the suit was statute barred having been fixed outside the 14 days stipulated by Section 285 of the 1999 Constitution which clearly states that all pre-election suits must be filed within 14 days whereas, the instant suit was filed after 28 days.