The Supreme Court on Tuesday affirmed Lucky Aiyedatiwa of the All Progressives Congress as the governor of Ondo State.
In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Garba Lawal, the apex court dismissed the appeal of the Peoples Democratic Party and its governorship candidate, Agboola Ajayi, seeking to nullify Aiyedatiwa’s victory.
The appellants had sought to nullify the election of Aiyedatiwa over allegations of discrepancies in his running mate Olayide Adelami’s name change and also challenged the legitimacy of Aiyedatiwa and the APC.
The appellants argued that Aiyedatiwa’s running mate, Adelami, who previously had the name “Jackson” as his middle name while in secondary school, had changed it to “Owolabi” without proper documentation.
Meanwhile, the respondents—Aiyedatiwa, Adelami, the APC, and the Independent National Electoral Commission—contended that Ajayi lacked the locus standi to file the suit.
They also argued that the filing exceeded the 14-day window prescribed for such cases.
However, the concurrent judgments of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal on the matter, which upheld the respondents’ qualifications, were affirmed.
Both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal dismissed Ajayi’s case on procedural grounds, upholding Aiyedatiwa’s victory.
Ajayi’s legal challenge, filed on June 7, 2024, claimed that Adelami’s eligibility was compromised due to alleged falsification of documents.
The Supreme Court described the petition as baseless, frivolous, and lacking in merit, declaring it “statute-barred” as it was filed after the constitutionally mandated deadline.
Consequently, the appeal was dismissed, with the court ordering Ajayi to pay ₦2 million in costs to each of the four respondents.