The Supreme Court has Wednesday declared that Dr. Kayode Fayemi was duly nominated as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the July 14, 2018, governorship election in Ekiti State.
The verdict was given by Justice Amiru Sanusi over the suit filed by a former governor of Ekiti State, Segun Oni, challenging the qualification of Fayemi for the candidate of the APC.
Oni contested the election with Fayemi but was defeated.
Fayemi eventually emerged the winner of the governorship election and has since been sworn in as the governor.
Oni however challenged Fayemi’s qualification, saying he did not resign his position as minister before contesting for the primary where the candidate of the party for the election was elected.
In his ruling, Sanusi said Oni’s suit was status barred.
According to him, it was caught up by Section 285 of the 1999 Constitution.
The constitution makes it mandatory for all pre-election cases to be filed within 14 days after the issue in dispute occurred.
The judge said instead, Oni’s case was filed at the trial court 42 days after the cause of action.
He described the suit as incompetent the moment the rule was not observed.
