A Federal High Court, in Abuja, on Tuesday, sacked the House of Representatives candidate of the Ondo state All Progressives Congress (APC) for Odigbo/Ile-Oluji/Oke-igbo, Yejide Ogundipe.
The court, in its judgment, also ordered the sacked candidate to be replaced by one Festus Ayodele Adefiranye, having won the highest number of votes in the primaries conducted by the party in the state.
The judgment followed a suit, which has Yetunde Ogundipe, APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as defendants, instituted by Adefiranye, challenging the substitution of his name with that of Ogundipe by the party.
The plaintiff had tendered exhibit that showed that he came first in the primaries held, having scored the highest number of votes and added that he was surprised to discover that it was Ogundipe’s name, who came second in the primaries that was forwarded to INEC.
In their defence, the defendants had submitted that it was the appeal panel of the party that discovered that there was error in the counting and based on the petition by Ogundipe, carried out a re-count where the first defendant later emerged as the winner.
The plaintiff, however, submitted that the re-counting was not done in his presence and hence, his right to fair hearing was breached.
The trial judge, Justice Gabriel Kolawole, in his ruling, held that by Section 87 (1) of the Electoral Act 2010, the Federal High Court is empowered to hear such electoral matter, saying that the instant case could not be treated as an internal affair of the party since the proceedings of the appeal panel has been faulted.
The court said, “It is obvious from the exhibit that the plaintiff was not present when the appeal panel was recounting the votes.
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