Ekiti State Governor-elect, Mr. Ayo Fayose, on Monday asked an Ekiti High Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti, to strike out a case seeking to stop him from contesting the June 21 governorship election already won by him.
The Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate argued that the court lacked the jurisidiction to hear the case filed by a socio-cultural organisation, Ekiti Eleven and the Citizen Party.
His lead counsel, Mr. Raji Ahmed (SAN), argued that only the Federal High Court could hear the case since it involved the a Federal Agency-the Independent National Electoral Commission-and the National secretariat of PDP.
Ahmed said that the case in which the plaintiffs sought to stop his client from contesting the governorship election had been ovetaken by events as it had been won and lost.
Opposing the argument, the lead counsel to the citizen’s party, Norrison Quakers (SAN) 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’, Mr. 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.
Before adjourning till July 18 for ruling, Justice Olusegun Ogunyemi asked all the parties to submit their written applications on or before the said date.
The Plaintiff, Ekiti-Eleven, is seeking the court to compel Fayose to explain circumstances surrounding his 2006 impeachment.
The applicant contended that the former Ekiti Governor failed to disclose vital information regarding the grounds of his impeachment in 2006 in form CFO1 submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission.
via nigerianeye
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