The Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) has been called upon to revoke and cancel the declaration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of Akoko South-East/South-West federal constituency election in Ondo State and instead declare and return Hon. Kolawole Olugbenga of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the rightful winner of the February 25 poll.
INEC had declared the APC as the winner of the election held on February 25, 2023 without legally fielding any candidate for the exercise.
Mr Adefarati Adegboyega was supposed to be the candidate of the APC in the election but following unresolved disagreement among aspirants of the party during the primary election, Justice T. B. Adegoke of a Federal High Court sitting in Akure, the State capital declared that APC had no candidate in the federal constituency election.
The court said the party did not conduct valid and lawful primary election to produce a candidate for the said election.
Justice Toyin Adegoke in her judgement before the general election had ordered that, “This Honourable Court hereby declare that the 1st Defendant (APC) did not conduct valid and lawful primary election for its candidates for Akoko Southeast/South-West Federal Constituency of Ondo State pursuant to Section 291 of the Electoral Act 2022.
“This Honorable Court hereby restrain the 3rd Defendant (INEC) from accepting, recognizing, acting upon or taking any step further or doing anything; howsoever in giving effect to, continuing to give effect to the 5th Defendant (Adefarati) as candidate of the 1st Defendant on the basis of the primary election conducted on the 29/11/22 or the House of Representatives in Akoko Southeast/SouthWest Federal Constituency Ondo State, at Patrick Secondary School, lwaro-Oka of Ondo State.”
Following the crisis in the APC and the subsisting order of the court, the candidate of the PDP in the February 25 general election, Hon. Kolawole Olugbenga, asked INEC to declare him winner of the election, due to the nullification of the primary election of the APC.
According to him, the declaration and return of APC candidate in the election should be revoked and cancelled as the party had no candidate in the election.
Hon. Kolawole, through his lawyer, said he should be declared the winner of the election, since he recorded the second highest number of votes cast in the election.
In a petition to INEC, Hon Kolawole’s lawyer said, “We humbly wish to make the point further that INEC was not fair to our Client as it is not supposed to allow APC and Adefarati Adegboyega, to participate in the election and where he was allowed, he ought not to have been declared and returned as the elected representative of Akoko Southeast/Southeast Federal Constituency.
“We believe without doubt that the Commission returned Mr. Adefarati Adegboyega, in error and this is the major reason for this petition to correct the electoral aberration with immediate effect.
“We urge the Commission to invoke the provision of Section 65 of the Electoral Act, 2022 which empowers the Commission to review its action where declaration and return of a candidate was made in error just like in this case. We hereby demand that INEC should immediately cancel the wrong return of Adefarati Adegboyega, which was done in error and return our Client Mr. Kolawole Olugbenga, who is the first runner up in the election and by implication got the highest number of lawful votes immediately.
“We enjoin INEC not to issue certificate of return to Adefarati Adegboyega, as he is not the winner of the election as he never participated in the election in the eyes of the law as he and his party were barred by 2 judgments of Federal High Court Akure and there is no stay of execution.”
