An Ondo State High Court presided by Justice Bode Adegbehingbe, on Monday dismissed a suit filed by a factional group of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the State, challenging the authenticity of the Ade Adetimehin led executive in the State.
Two members of the factional group, Idowu Otetubi and Gani Muhammed Shows, had dragged the Adetimehin led executive before the court, laying claim to the leadership of the party in the State.
Apart from praying the Court to declare the Adetimehin led APC as illegal in the State, the duo prayed the court to direct the Ondo State Independent Electoral Commission (ODIEC) not to recognise Ade Adetimehin as the authentic Chairman of the party in the State.
The factional members, through their Counsel, Tolu Babaleye asked the court to direct ODIEC to recognise Idowu Otetubi as the Chairman of APC in Ondo State, and also restrain ODIEC from accepting the list of candidates from Adetimehin for the local government election in the State.
Counsel to ODIEC, Charles Titiloye, has earlier prayed the court to strike out the suit against the electoral umpire saying the suit was an abuse of Court processes.
Titiloye argued that the suit filed by the factional and aggrieved members of the APC is an intra party affairs and not justiciable
According to him, the issues raised by the plaintiffs can only be adjudicated after the aggrieved parties have explore all internal mechanism as provided for by APC constitution.
He described the suit as a gross abuse of Court process, noting that the same claimants had filed a similar suit on the same matter against the defendants before the Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja.
He further noted that legal representative capacity of “purported Ondo State Executive committee of APC” is not known to law and urged the court to dismiss the suit as incompetent.
Also, Counsel to Adetimehin and APC, B. A. Aderosin, urged the Court to strike out the suit on the ground that the claimants lacked the locus standi to file the suit.
However, in his ruling Justice Adegbehingbe, dismissed all the prayers submitted before the court over duplication of actions by the plaintiffs.
He held that the suit filed by Idowu Otetubi and Gani Mohammed Ajowa was an abuse of court process, saying that it constitutes the multiplicity of actions by the same claimants before different courts.
Adegbehingbe ruled that the suit is incompetent and disclosed that no reasonable cause of action and struck out the suit for refusal of the claimant’s counsel to comply with the rules of Ondo State High Court.
YOMI AYELESO, Akure
