Ekiti APC Primary: Olawunmi heads to A-Court over disqualification

An All Progressives Congress, APC governorship aspirant in Ekiti State, Abimbola Olawunmi, has approached the Court of Appeal in Abuja to challenge her disqualification from the party’s 2025 primary election.

In a Notice of Appeal filed against the APC, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and Biodun Oyebanji, Olawunmi is seeking to overturn the April 15, 2026 judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which dismissed her suit.

Through her counsel, Chief Ayotunde Ogunleye (SAN), the appellant contended that the trial court erred in law by dismissing her case after declining jurisdiction, rather than striking it out. She argued that the decision occasioned a miscarriage of justice.

Olawunmi further urged the appellate court to invoke its powers under Section 15 of the Court of Appeal Act, 2021, to assume jurisdiction and determine the substantive issues, stressing that the matter is a time-sensitive pre-election dispute.

The dispute stems from her disqualification by the APC at its 179th National Working Committee (NWC) meeting held on October 9, 2025.

The party had cited her financial standing and alleged absence from its revalidated membership register as grounds for excluding her from the governorship primary conducted on October 27, 2025.

Challenging the decision, Olawunmi maintained that her disqualification contravenes Section 84(3) of the Electoral Act, 2022, and Section 177 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which set out the qualifications for contesting the office of governor.

She is asking the Court of Appeal to declare her exclusion unlawful, null and void, and to invalidate all actions arising from it, including the outcome of the primary that produced the party’s candidate.

Among the reliefs sought are orders setting aside her disqualification, nullifying the October 27, 2025 primary, and directing the APC to conduct a fresh exercise. She also wants the court to restrain the party from excluding her from future nomination processes.

In addition, the appellant is urging the court to compel INEC to disqualify candidates who emerged from the disputed primary pending the conduct of a new primary.

However, the Federal High Court, in its earlier ruling delivered by Justice Peter Lifu, held that the suit was statute-barred, having been filed outside the 14-day window prescribed for pre-election matters. The court noted that the plaintiff filed the case 27 days after the alleged disqualification.

The trial court also upheld the defendants’ argument that issues relating to party membership fall within the internal affairs of a political party and are not justiciable.

It ruled that no court has the jurisdiction to inquire into such matters.

Justice Lifu further held that the suit disclosed no reasonable cause of action and lacked any dispute warranting judicial intervention, leading to its dismissal in favour of the defendants.