ONDO
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has set aside the ruling of the Federal High Court which ordered the replacement of the name of Eyitayo Jegede with that of Jimoh Ibrahim as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the November 26 governorship election in Ondo state.
Jegede, who belongs to the Ahmed Makarfi-led faction of the PDP, had in his appeal challenged his replacement by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, with Ibrahim of the Ali Modu Sheriff camp of the party as the governorship candidate for the election.
Ruling on the appeal on Wednesday, the Justice Ibrahim Saulawa-led panel of the Court of Appeal ordered INEC to reinstate Jegede as the authentic PDP candidate, stressing that the replacement of Jegede’s name with Ibrahim’s without hearing Jegede was breach of fair hearing.
The appellate court held that the order of the Justice Okon Abang-led Federal High Court upon which INEC based its action was “violent attitudinal disposition to rule of law”.
All seven issues raised in the appeal were resolved in favour of Jegede
