Court Strikes Out Oni’s Case Against Fayemi

The Federal High Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti yesterday dismissed the suit filed by former Governor Segun Oni challenging the eligibility of the incumbent governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the July 14 governorship election.

Oni, also an APC aspirant in the election, was challenging Fayemi’s eligibility on the ground that the governor did not resign his appointment as minister 30 days before the party primaries and that he was indicted by Justice Silas Oyewole-led commission of inquiry.

His counsel, Chief Anthony Adeniyi, prayed the court to void the votes cast for Fayemi for refusing to resign and the indictment, withdraw the certificate of return issued to Fayemi and declare Oni as duly nominated APC candidate.


On the other hand, Fayemi’s counsel, Chief Rafiu Balogun, urged the court to strike out Oni’s suit for lack of merit, saying that he (Oni) was not a civil servant or an official of APC hence the resignation clause was not binding and that an Abuja court had quashed the decision of the commission of inquiry.

However, Justice Uche Agomoh, in her judgment, held that the case was “completely lacking in merit.”

The court, which also held that Fayemi was validly nominated by APC and that he was not a public officer envisaged by the Electoral Act, 1999 Constitution and party guidelines to resign before contesting, said the purported indictment by the Judicial Commission of Inquiry set up by former Governor Ayodele Fayose could not stand having been set aside by a court of co-ordinate jurisdiction.