Oyo ACN guber: Court refuses to halt Ajimobi’s candidacy

IBADAN —  ATTEMPTS by three of the aggrieved Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, aspirants to stop the candidature of Senator Abiola Ajimobi, yesterday met a brick wall as the trial judge, Justice Johnson Shakarho, refused to grant any restraining order because other processes were yet to be fully filed. The aggrieved aspirants  despites all entreaties for amicable resolution  instituted an action against Ajimobi, Indpendent National Electoral Commission, INEC and ACN.
The aspirants who felt cheated by the action of the party’s leadership are Profs Wale Oyemakinde,Wole Akinboade and Hon. Soji Akanbi.
They are praying the federal High Court in Ibadan to declare that Ajimobi was not “validly or lawfully nominated or chosen as the governorship candidate of the ACN for the April election.
They asked the court to declare the “nomination or selection of Ajimobi as the party’s governorship candidate for the April general elections in the state null and void.
Olalekan Ojo is the counsel holding brief for the plaintiffs, while Abiodun Amole is standing in for Ajimobi.
He urged the court to order that status quo be maintained in the party as it was before the selection of Ajimobi and that the ACN, INEC should be restrained from recognizing him as the governorship candidate for the April elections in the state.
To him, the process that led to the selection of Ajimobi was fraught with irregularities and this contradicted the provisions of the 2010 electoral Act.
But Amole filed a motion challenging the jurisdiction of the court,  arguing that the motion must be heard first before any other matter.
He argued that since the name of the candidate had been forwarded to the electoral body, there was virtually nothing the court could restrain.
Justice Sharkarho then adjourned hearing of the applications to February 24 when all  parties in the suit ought to have adopted their written addresses.