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Court dismisses suit to stop Oyo council poll

By Muyiwa Adeyemi, Head, South West Bureau, Ibadan)
11 May 2018   |   4:13 am
A Federal High Court in Ibadan yesterday struck out a suit seeking to stop the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC) from conducting council polls.The suit filed by some concerned persons in Eruwa area of the state is challenging the OYSIEC and others, from conducting elections into the newly created wards in the state.

Abiola Ajimobi, Governor of Oyo State. PHOTO: TWITTER

•No amount of threat will deter us, APC Unity Forum tells Ajimobi

A Federal High Court in Ibadan yesterday struck out a suit seeking to stop the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC) from conducting council polls.The suit filed by some concerned persons in Eruwa area of the state is challenging the OYSIEC and others, from conducting elections into the newly created wards in the state. The suit was titled: Olugbenga Adeyemi & others Vs INEC, OYSIEC and OYSG.Justice Abdul Malik held that the subject matter was clearly on the powers of OYSIEC being challenged by the plaintiffs, and not that of INEC, which it joined as a federal agency.

The court held that the suit was not for the Federal High Court, but that of state and, accordingly struck it out in its entirety along with any previously made orders.Following the judgment, the state government has declared that local government elections would hold tomorrow as scheduled. The Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Mr. Oluseun Abimbola has disclosed.

The government announced that there would be restriction of movement from 8:00a.m to 3:00p.m. Meanwhile, the Unity Forum of the Oyo State All Progressives Congress (APC) has denied that its members planned to burn the party’s secretariat in Oke-Ado, Ibadan.

A statement by its Secretary, Dr.Wasiu Olatubosun, described the allegation as a plot to prevent members of the group from participating in the next local
government congress of the party.It also stated that it was a scheme to clampdown on members of the forum.The forum added that the author of the government’s statement, Morounkola Thomas is already under investigation for a plot to assassinate a member of the forum, Senator Monsurat Sunmonu.

Thomas is the Executive Assistant to Governor Abiola Ajimobi. The government had ‎alleged that members of the party planned the act in “their desperate bid to scuttle Saturday’s local government election and party congresses.‎”

The group, however, said that its members are determined to claim their rightful place in the party.It advised the governor, as the chief security officer of the state, to beef up security since they had allegedly uncovered the plan.

“Is it not so sad for sponsored thugs to attack son of the late leader of the party, Alhaji Lamidi Adesina, Adedapo Lam-Adesina, in the presence of the governor?” the group asked. Olusumbo Olugbemi, it added, has also received more than 10 threats from loyalists of the governor.

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