Court crashes Jimoh Ibrahim’s governorship ambition
…Appeal court: Jegede in, Ibrahim out
http://www.gatewaymail.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Eyitayo-Jegede...PDP-Ondo-State-governorship-candidate..jpgBy Femi Shodunke
NIGERIA: THE ambition of business mogul and politician, Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim, to fly the ticket of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Saturday’s governorship election in Ondo State has crashed.
The Appeal Court in Abuja on Wednesday ordered the removal of Ibrahim’s name as the PDP flagbearer and should be replaced with Mr. Eyitayo Jegede, who is of the Ahmed Makarfi-led faction of the party, and the preferred candidate of the state Governor, Dr. Segun Mimiko.
The judgement of Justice Justice Ibrahim Saulawa, which came three days to the election, also set aside the earlier judgement of Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court.
Saulawa also rejected all the objections filed before the court by Ibrahim and his loyalists.
Abang had ruled Ibrahim as the duly qualified candidate of the PDP to represent the party in the governorship election, the judgement that forced Jegede to head to the upper court for redress.
A factional Chairman of the PDP in the state, Mr. Biyi Poroye, who belongs to Ibrahim camp, had recently approached the Supreme Court to challenge an earlier judgement of the Appeal Court and asking the apex court to stop the same court from further sitting.
But last Tuesday, a five-member panel of the Supreme Court, led by the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, struck out the application due to lack of merit.
