The joy of Gboyega Adefarati, son of a former governor of Ondo State, Adebayo Adefarati, at winning the keenly contested National Assembly polls on February 25 has been cut short by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The electoral body excluded his name from the published list of the house of representatives’ members-elect from Ondo state. Gboyega was elected to represent Akoko south-east and south-west federal constituency in the 10th assembly under the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The INEC’s returning officer for the national assembly election in the state declared him winner, after polling 25,872 votes to beat his closest rival, Gbenga Kolawole of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who secured 18,403 votes. The electoral body, while stating the reason behind the delisting, cited a February 17 court order which nullified the party’s primary that produced Gboyega as the candidate for the constituency. Segun Ategbole and John Adanike, aspirants in the primary election of the party, in 2022, approached the court, alleging infractions in the voting exercise. They also sought to be declared winners in their separate suits.
Also, Ogunleye Teloye, Zenith Labour Party (ZLP)’s candidate for the seat, in 2022, also approached the court with an originating summons. Ogunleye asked the court to disqualify the APC from participating in the election over the party’s failure to conduct a primary election 180 days before the parliamentary poll. However, T.B. Adegoke, the presiding judge, held that the APC had no candidate for the house of representatives election, pointing out that the party did not hold a valid primary election.
Adegoke, who cited the 180 days window as provided in the electoral act 2022, restrained the APC from conducting any fresh primary poll. The judge also restrained INEC from accepting the names of Ategbole and Adanike, or any name from APC, just as she prohibited Adefarati from presenting himself as the candidate of APC for the February 25 election.
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