Biyi Otegbeye: Labour Party Fails To Show In Appeal Case With ADC, Judgement Date Posponed

IBADAN – Neither the Labour Party representatives nor their lawyers showed up at the Appeal Court in Ibadan today (January 11, 2022), in a case involving the Labour Party and the Ogun State African Democratic Congress (ADC).

It would be recalled that a Federal High Court in Abeokuta had in December 2022 ruled that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), should remove the name of ADC Governorship candidate, Barrister Biyi Otegbeye, from the list of candidates contesting 2023 gubernatorial election in the state.

But in the case today between OLUBIYI OTEGBEYE v LP read by Court Clerk at the Court of Appeals, Ibadan, and presided over by Justice Hon. Justice Moore Aseimo Abraham Adumen, the Labour Party representatives were conspicuously absent.

Lawyers that stood for Olubiyi Otegbeye and ADC refered to Rivers PDP vs APC and said there is no locus standi in the case against ADC, and that it is only individual members within the ADC that have a right to sue and not an entity outside the party.

The ADC lawyer quoted from previous Appeal and Supreme Courts judgements that say ‘only an aspirant who participated in a primary can sue’.

Court however reserved judgement in the Appeal case at a date to be communicated.