With less than 72 hours to the scheduled governorship election in Benue State, the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Wednesday, sacked the deputy governorship candidate of the Labour Party, LP, in the state, Chief Idu Christopher Onyiloyi.
The court, in a judgement that was delivered by Justice Inyang Ekwo,
restored Dr Ochechi Godwin Adejor as the deputy governorship candidate of the party for the election.
Justice Ekwo held that Onyiloyi, having voluntarily withdrawn his candidacy and deposed to an affidavit to that effect, he ceased in law to hold the same status.
The court held that evidence before it established that Onyiloyi personally wrote a letter to the party, wherein he withdrew from the governorship race.
It noted that the said letter was supported with a court affidavit.
Consequently, relying on sections 221, 222 of the 1999 Constitution and sections 29, 31, 32, 33 and 84 of the Electoral Act 2022, Justice Ekwo held that Onyiloyi, having voluntarily withdrawn his candidacy, he could no longer lay claim to the position.
He held that the party was under obligation to remove his name and replace it with that of Adejor.
Justice Ekwo ordered the LP to immediately forward the plaintiff’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for publication as its lawful deputy governorship candidate for the election.
More so, the court, issued an order compelling INEC to publish the name of the plaintiff, even as it further granted an order of perpetual injunction, restraining the electoral body from accepting any name other than that of the plaintiff as the deputy governorship candidate of thr LP.
The court equally issued an order stopping Onyiloyi from further parading himself as the deputy governorship candidate of LP in Benue state.
It also barred the party from according him any recognition as its deputy governorship candidate.
Cited as defendants in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1853/2022, were LP, INEC and Onyiloyi, respectively.
