An appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) seeking to restore the nullification of the participation of Osun’s ex-governor Gboyega Oyetola and his deputy Benedict Alabi in the July 16, 2022 governorship election, has been dismissed by the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court’s five-member bench, chaired by Justice Centus Nweze, ruled on Thursday that the PDP’s appeal lacked merit and ordered Kehinde Ogunwumiju, the party’s counsel, to withdraw it.
The court ruled that the PDP was not permitted by law to contest the procedures used to choose Oyetola and Alabi to represent the All Progressives Congress (APC) as candidates in the election.
Oyetola and Alabi’s participation in the governorship election was declared invalid by Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja, in a ruling on September 30, 2022, on the grounds that Mai Mala Buni, the acting chairman of the APC and the governor of Yobe State, had signed off on their nomination forms.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja overturned Justice Nwite’s decision in a decision from December of last year, and the PDP challenged that verdict to the Supreme Court.