An Ekiti High Court will on July 18 deliver a judgment in a suit challenging the eligibility of Ayo Fayose to contest the just-concluded governorship election in the state. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after he defeated the incumbent governor, Kayode Fayemi. Although the incumbent governor has conceded defeat, the fate of the elected governor is still on a balance following a suit filed by Ekiti-Eleven and Citizens Party before the election challenging his eligibility to run for the office as a governor. The court could not hear the suit before the commencement of the June 21 election. Fayose in opposing the suit arguing that the court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case filed by the socio-cultural organisation. His lead counsel, Raji Ahmed, argued that only the Federal High Court could hear the case since it involved the a federal agency -INEC, and the National Secretariat of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party. Ahmed said the case, in which the plaintiffs sought to stop his client from contesting the governorship election, had been overtaken by events as it had been won and lost. Opposing the argument however, the lead counsel to the citizen’s party, Norrison Quakers, argued that the case still had merit regardless of whether the election at hand had been conducted or not. Supporting the argument, counsel to the E-Eleven, Raufu Balogun, insisted that the court had jurisdiction to try the case, and should therefore not strike it out. He urged the court to dismiss the defendant’s counsel submission for lacking in merit, citing Section 31 of the Electoral Act.
Posted on: Wed, 02 Jul 2014 23:27:22 +0000
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