A complaint brought by Awoyemi Oluwatayo Lukman to have Ademola Adeleke, the governor-elect of Osun State and a candidate for the governorship of the Peoples Democratic Party, dismissed Thursday by the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Lukman has filed suit against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and Adeleke, asking the court to nullify and dismiss Adeleke’s nomination to INEC on the grounds that it had been submitted in violation of INEC’s rules.
The complainant claimed that the PDP submitted Adeleke’s name too early, on March 11, 2022, instead of the March 14-18 window specified by INEC.
Since Adeleke’s name was submitted before the deadline established by INEC, the court, in his view, should rule that the submission was improper and invalid.
He also insisted that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) be held to its own regulations and that any deviation from these regulations shall be interpreted as a violation of the Electoral Act of 2022.
But in his ruling, Justice Obiora Egwuatu threw out the case, saying that Lukman didn’t have the legal standing to file it.
Justice Egwuatu further ruled that the claim was time-barred since it was submitted more than two weeks after the election, which is contrary to the fourteen-day deadline set forth in Section 285 of the 1999 Constitution.
