The governorship candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, Honourable Ladi Adebutu has queried the Independent National Electoral Commission over the missing court judgments submitted to it and duly acknowledged by the commission on 28th December, 2018 and 11th January, 2019.
The submitted orders and judgments are: the judgment of the Appeal Court, Ibadan and judgments of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Abuja, on the list of PDP candidates in Ogun State.
Media Consultant to Adebutu, Mr Afolabi Orekoya, in a statement issued on Monday, quoted Adebutu to have queried INEC’s refusal to obey the judgment and the orders, despite acknowledging receipt of the judgments and the orders.
“We have published the acknowledgement letters with which the Appeal Court judgment and others were received by INEC, on 28th day of December 2018 and another on the 11th, January, 2019. But INEC refused to act in obedience to the court judgments and orders,” Adebutu said.
The statement explained that INEC on 25th October, 2018, in an official letter with reference number INEC/LEG/DR/t197/I/154 delivered to PDP said it would not publish names of candidates presented by the party based on an order by the Federal High Court, Abeokuta granted on October 2, 2018 and a judgment in suit FHC/L/CFS/636/2016 on the authentic executive of the party in the state.
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“The main order that INEC based its decision on was nullified by the Appeal Court sitting in Ibadan on Tuesday, 18th December, 2018 and a certified true copy of this judgment was duly served on INEC twice as mentioned above.
“Candidates that emerged from primaries conducted by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party and deprived of their rights approached FCT High Court, seeking the court to compel PDP to present their names and also to compel INEC to accept their names.
“These prayers were granted in suit number FCT/FT/CV/28/18 and FCT/HC/CV/30/18. These orders were also served on INEC to do the needful. Yet, INEC has refused to act on the ground that it cannot find these judgments in its records.
“We, therefore, ask what has happened to the judgments served on INEC and duly acknowledged till Thursday when list of candidates was published for the necessary actions to have been taken by INEC before the said date of publication.
“We re-presented the judgments again to INEC on Wednesday, 16th January, 2019 and we expect INEC to do the needful, failure which will confirm interference of the ruling party. We also believe the judgments will not miss in transit this time around,” Adebutu was quoted to have said.
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