Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos nullifies the election Hon. Babajide Owoduni of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and declares Hon. Kunle Sobukola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) elected.

CA/1B/EP/SHA/OG/23/2023 Hon Olakunle Sobukanla & Anor v. INEC & 2 Ors.

Earlier today, the Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos allowed the appeal of Hon Kunle Sobukanla and directed INEC to issue him a Certificate of Return as the duly elected Member representing Ikenne State Constituency in the Ogun State House of Assembly.

In March 2023, INEC declared Mr Babajide Owodunni as the winner of the election. This was despite the fact that on 6 March, 2023 – 12 days before the election – Babajide Owodunni resigned from the PDP and withdrew from the contest in letters delivered to PDP and INEC. Mr Owodunni also went to the High Court where he swore an affidavit of voluntary withdrawal from the race. At the time, when PDP received Mr Owodunni’s resignation and withdrawal notices, PDP wrote to INEC attempting to replace him but INEC refused the replacement, retained Owodunni as the recognised candidate, and then issued him a certificate of return.

At the Tribunal, Owodunni told a laughable story about how he was kidnapped and forced to sign the withdrawal letters and affidavit. Lawyers to Hon Sobukanla and APC confronted him with contrary evidence showing Owodunni freely campaigning for APC after withdrawing from the race. They also played a video in which Owodunni said:

“_As far as this Local Government is concerned PDP does not have a candidate in Ikenne Local Government. I still remain the bonafide PDP candidate and I willingly withdraw my mandate that I no longer have any dealings with them…_”

With these crucial pieces of evidence, the Tribunal rejected Owodunni’s claim of duress and held that Owodunni truly withdrew from the race. However, the Tribunal refused to void Owodunni’s return by INEC on the ground that Owodunni withdrew less than 90 days to the election and such withdrawal is invalid.

In the appeal, APC and Hon Sobukanla argued that a withdrawal can be made at any time and that a withdrawal is complete once it is made in writing and delivered to the political party in question, irrespective of whether the political party informs INEC or not. APC and Hon Sobukanla argued that the 90 days stipulated in the Electoral Act is just the deadline for a political party to replace a withdrawn candidate but that there is no provision of the Act or legal principle that prevents a candidate from withdrawing less than 90 days to an election because withdrawal is complete the moment it is communicated to the party – the party has no role to play. They referred the Court of Appeal to the decision of the Supreme Court in _PDP v. INEC_ and the Presidential Election Petition Court in _APM v. INEC_ both of which were decided this year on the alleged double nomination of Vice President Kashim Shettima.

The Court of Appeal in a panel comprising of Hon Justice Theresa Ngolika Orji -Abadua, Hon. Justice Mohammed Baba Idris and Hon. Justice Hadiza Rabiu Shagari
saw merit in these strong legal arguments and upheld them. Consequently, the withdrawal of Mr Babajide Owodunni was upheld by the Court of Appeal while his declaration and return by INEC was set aside. By this decision, no usurper will be allowed to hold claim an office after publicly withdrawing from the election to that office. This further compounds the woes of the PDP in Ogun State as APC reclaims one seat in the House of Assembly.