BY LEKE ADEGBITE
The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition instituted by the PDP candidate for Okitipupa Constituency II, Osulowo Tibetan, against the election of a member of the Ondo state House of Assembly, Hon James Ololade Gbegudu of the APC.
The High Court and Court of Appeal had earlier declared Gbegudu as the authentic winner of APC primary for Okitipupa Constituency II, and ordered that INEC should withdraw the Certificate of Return of Sina Akinwumi, and issued same to Gbegudu and the Apex Court also dismissed appeal by Sina Akinwumi.
PDP and its candidate, Osulowo Tibetan, in the 2019 assembly election thereafter approached the Court to declare that since Sina Akinwumi who stood for APC was not the right candidate, the Apex court should order that the PDP candidate, should be declared winner instead of Mr Gbegudu replacing Sina Akinwumi at the Assembly.
Consequently, the five-man panel of Justices of the Supreme Court led by Justice Musa Dattijo Muhammad agreed with Gbegudu’s Counsel, Femi Emodamori, that it was a pre-election matter which was time-bound and already statute-barred and dismissed the PDP candidate.
More details later