The Supreme Court in Abuja has ordered a retrail of the dispute which ensued from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primary election in Ogun State.
Jimi Lawal, a governorship aspirant had filed a lawsuit challenging the emergence of Oladipupo Adebutu as the governorship candidate of the party.
He had asked the court to cancel the purported primary election of 25 May and also order that another one be conducted with the authentic ad-hoc delegates.
A federal high court had on 29 July, declined to hear Mr Lawal’s case on its merit. The court insisted that PDP’s primary election was a domestic affair.
Mr Lawal approached the Court of Appeal in Abuja with a prayer that the decision of the High Court be nullified, citing miscarriage of justice.
A three-man panel of Justices of the Court of Appeal in their judgment delivered on 30 September agreed with Jimi Lawal, set aside judgment of the high court and ordered that the suit be heard on its merit. After the PDP approached the supreme court to uphold the federal high court’s judgement, the apex court agreed with the Court of Appeal in Abuja that the High Court has jurisdiction under section 285 of the 1999 Constitution and section 84 [14) of the Electoral Act 2022 to hear the suit on its merit.
It also ordered that the case be remitted to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja for determination by another judge other than Taiwo Taiwo who declined to entertain the case.
