Appeal Court Reinstates Akinlade as APC Rep Candidate

The Court of Appeal in Ibadan has declared Abiodun Akinlade as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress for the Egbado South/Ipokia Federal Constituency in the 2023 House of Representatives elections.

It also set aside the judgment of the Federal High Court which removed Akinlade as the APC’s candidate and disqualified him from the race.

While delivering judgment in the appeal marked CA/IB/429/2022, the three-man panel of judges, Justice Moore Adumein, Justice Yargata Nimpar and Folashade Ojo, resolved all the issues in favour of the APC and Akinlade.

The APC’s counsel, Kehinde Ogunwumiju (SAN), had asked the court to strike out the written argument filed by Micheal Adeleke in response to the appeal, describing it as incompetent, having been filed out of time stipulated by the Election Judicial Proceedings Practice Direction 2022.

The court held that the Practice Directions apply to both election and pre-election matters as well as any appeal arising from them.

The Court of Appeal, therefore, allowed the APC’s appeal, set aside the judgment of the Federal High Court, dismissed Adeleke’s case, and reinstated Akinlade as the authentic candidate.