Appeal court upholds Adeleke’s candidacy

A Court of Appeal sitting in Akure, the Ondo State capital on Wednesday upheld the judgement of the lower court which affirmed Osun State Governor-elect, Ademola Adeleke, as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party for last Saturday’s governorship election. Dotun Babayemi, a PDP chieftain, had contested the party’s governorship primaries at the High Court challenging the validity of the primary conducted by the national leadership of the party but lost in the court.

Not satisfied with the judgment of the high court, he proceeded to the appellate court to challenge the judgment but the appellate court on Wednesday also struck out the his appeal. Babayemi had taken Adeleke before a federal high court in Osogbo, seeking to be declared as the PDP candidate for the July 16 governorship election in Osun state.

Babayemi and Adeleke’s factions of the party had on March 8, 2021, conducted separate governorship primaries. Babayemi was declared the winner of the primary election held at the Children and Women Development Centre in Osogbo. On the other hand, the governor-elect emerged as the party’s candidate at the primary election held at Osogbo City Stadium.