Ondo Guber: INEC Obeys Court Order, Restores Olorunfemi Ayodele Festus as LP Candidate

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has reaffirmed Olorunfemi Ayodele Festus as the legitimate candidate of the Labour Party for the upcoming Saturday governorship election in Ondo State.

This decision comes after Olusola Ebiseni’s attempt to present himself as the official candidate faced a major setback. The Court of Appeal ruled that Ebiseni’s name should be removed from the ballot, backing the Labour Party’s appeal against him.

In a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Adebukola Banjoko, the appellate court declared the Federal High Court’s (FHC) earlier decision in favor of Ebiseni to be invalid, citing jurisdictional issues. The FHC had initially ordered INEC on September 27, 2024, to accept Ebiseni as the candidate for the Labour Party in the Ondo governorship race.

INEC confirmed the development on its X (formerly Twitter) page, stating that it had received the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the Court of Appeal’s judgment on November 14, 2024, which set aside the FHC ruling.

“The Commission was yesterday 14th November 2024 served with the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgement of the Court of Appeal which set aside the judgement of the Federal High Court (FHC), Abuja Division. The FHC, in suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1105/2024 had on 27th September 2024 ordered the Commission to accept Olusola Ebiseni as the candidate of the Labour Party for the 2024 Ondo State Governorship election.

“However, in the appeal with reference number CA/ABJ/CV/1172/2024 filed by the Labour Party, the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division struck out the judgement of the FHC for lack of jurisdiction. In obedience to the court order, the Commission has restored Olorunfemi Ayodele Festus, whose name was first published as the Labour Party candidate for the 2024 Ondo State Governorship election and uploaded same to our website for public information.”