Court dismisses eligibility suit against Ekiti APC Rep candidate

The Federal High Court, Ekiti Division, on Thursday dismissed an eligibility suit filed by a member of the All Progressives Congress, Bayo Babalotin, against the party’s House of Representatives candidate for Ekiti South Federal Constituency 1, Toyin Okoro.

Babalotin filed the suit, FHC/AD/CS/19/2026, before the court, seeking Okoro’s disqualification for allegedly failing to resign his appointment as a public servant before he emerged as an APC candidate in the party’s primary election.

In the petition filed against Okoro, the APC national body and APC Ekiti State, the applicant is urging the court to disqualify the APC rep candidate.

But the defence – Okoro and the APC – had argued in court that Babalotin lacked the right or capacity to institute the lawsuit on the matter bordering on the APC primary election, as the applicant was not an aspirant in the exercise.

In the court judgment, Justice Babs Kuewumi said the applicant failed to show how Okoro’s candidacy would adversely affect his interest.

The judge also said that Babalotin lacked the locus standi to challenge Okoro’s candidacy as he was not an aspirant in the APC primary election that produced the party’s candidate.

Dismissing the case, Justice Kuewumi stated, “The claimant (applicant) lacked the locus standi to institute the case. The issue of locus standi is pivotal. The claimant cannot challenge an APC primary election in which he was not a participant.”

Earlier, in the judgment, the judge struck out the name of Ekiti State APC as the third defendant in the suit, saying a political party is an entity; hence one cannot sue the state chapter and the national body in a matter.

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Counsel for Okoro, Dr Femi Ogunade, who hailed the judgment, said, “The court dismissed the suit on the ground that it is only an aspirant who can contest the conduct and the validity of a primary election, not an interloper or a busybody like the plaintiff in this matter.”

Ogunade said that the legal tussle bordered on the issue of who could institute an action in court.

He said, “The judgment is in tandem with the provisions of Section 285 of the Constitution, and even the provision of the Electoral Act – only the aspirant of a political party who participated in the election, not a sympathiser, nor a busybody nor card-carrying members of party that can even come to court to challenge the conduct of the election.”

The counsel, who said the coast was clear for Okoro to contest in the 2024 National Assembly election, said, “There is no issue before the APC candidate if the matter goes anywhere. The foundation of the matter is that the plaintiff did not have the right to bring the action in the first instance.”

Also reacting, a supporter, Ayodeji Aluko, said, “My main interest in the matter is in support of the candidate, Okoro. The judgment has made us happy because Okoro is a man of the people. The basic thing that is constant is change. The people of our federal constituency have clamoured for change.

“Okoro represents the change, so it becomes difficult for any individual to stand in the way of society. That is what the case is telling the entire world. Okoro is acceptable; he is accepted.

“If the communities in the federal constituency have given their support to Okoro overwhelmingly, then a few people in a community cannot rise against a moving train.”

Aluko, who is also a lawyer, said, “Thank God the case has been laid to rest on the basis that Babalotin, in this case, is a meddlesome interloper. He is not expected to bring a case in that regard because he was not a contestant. He does not have the constitutional requirement to bring up the case against the candidate of the party. Those are the issues that the court resolved today.”