IBADAN, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) – A Federal High Court sitting in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, has nullified all primaries conducted by the various factions of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.
The primaries were nullified by Justice O.O Oguntoyinbo, for not following the principles of the Electoral Act.
Justice O.O Oguntoyinbo ordered a rerun of the primaries within fourteen days.
The primaries were nullified after a governorship aspirant, Jimi Lawal approached the Court challenging the delegate list used during the primary by the Sikirulahi Ogundele faction of the party.
The election was held at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta.
Other candidates had also approached the Court to challenge the authenticity of the Sikirulahi Ogundele-led state executive of the party in the state.
The party had on 25 May, conducted the primary election which produced Ladi Adebutu as the governorship candidate of the party.
The plaintiffs contended that the persons on the delegates’ list used by the electoral panel for the primaries were not democratically elected at the ward, local government and state congresses, hence the panel “cannot unilaterally or arbitrarily impose” the list on the party for the primaries.
The plaintiffs in their originating summons, had prayed the court among others, to nullify or set aside the state congress/indirect primary election, held by the 1st defendant (PDP) on 25 May, 2022 “for the purpose of choosing the candidate which the 1st Defendant intends to nominate/sponsor at the 2023 Governorship election in Ogun State based on the list of delegates who were not democratically elected at the ward congress.”
They also sought an order directing the 2nd Defendant (INEC) “to disregard and/or refrain from giving effect to the results of the alleged 1st Defendant’s indirect primary election held on the 25th of May, 2022 based on the list of ad-hoc delegates who were not elected at the ward congresses constituted by the 1st Defendant for that purpose”.
Reacting to the judgement, the counsel to the plaintiffs, Thaddeus Idenyi, said the court nullified the election “because it was conducted using a list of adhoc delegates who were not elected.”
“The implication of the judgement is obvious, the PDP will have to put their hats together and then conduct a fresh primary as ordered by the court.
“This time around, the court was specific that they have to use the list that has been certified by INEC because after the primary, those lists were submitted to INEC as parts of its report of covering those ward congresses held, so the court has now said that is the list which must be considered in the conduct of the fresh primaries, so the PDP had to just put their house together and use those lists to conduct a fresh primary,” he said.