Stephen Adeyinka, Ado Ekiti
Monday April 27, 2026
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A fresh legal battle is brewing over the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary in Ekiti State, as an aspirant, Mrs. Abimbola Olajumoke Olawunmi, has approached the Court of Appeal in Abuja to challenge her disqualification from the party’s nomination process.
In a Notice of Appeal, with APC, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Hon. Abiodun Abayomi Oyebanji as respondents, the appellant is praying the Court of Appeal to overturn the judgment of the Federal High Court delivered on April 15, 2026, in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/2221/2025, which dismissed her case.
Through her legal team, led by Chief Ayotunde Ogunleye (SAN), Olawunmi argues that the trial court erred in law by dismissing her suit after declining jurisdiction, instead of striking it out, a decision, the appellant said, resulted in a miscarriage of justice.
The appellant is also asking the Court of Appeal to invoke its powers under Section 15 of the Court of Appeal Act, 2021, to assume jurisdiction and determine the substantive issues in the case, describing the matter as a pre-election dispute requiring urgent resolution.
The thrust of the matter is Olawunmi’s 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 the alleged absence of her name from its revalidated membership register as grounds for excluding her from the governorship primary held on October 27, 2025.
However, Olawunmi contends that her disqualification violates Section 84(3) of the Electoral Act, 2022, as well as Section 177 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which outline the qualifications for contesting the office of a state governor.
She is asking the appellate court to declare her exclusion unlawful, null and void, and to invalidate all actions taken based on that decision, including the outcome of the primary election that produced the party’s candidate.
Among other reliefs, the appellant is seeking orders of the Court of Appeal setting aside the APC’s decision to disqualify her;
nullify the governorship primary conducted on October 27, 2025,
restrain the party from excluding her from future nomination processes and directing the APC to conduct a fresh primary election.
She also wants to court to compel INEC to disqualify candidates who emerged from the disputed primary pending a new exercise.
It would be recalled that, Justice Peter Lifu of a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja had held in a judgement, in a suit filed by Mrs Olawunmi, a disqualified aspirant in the governorship primary against the APC, that Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, was dully endorsed to contest the June 20 election by the APC.
The plaintiff had challenged her disqualification in the primary election by APC and her exclusion in the revalidation of membership exercise.
The trial Court held that the suit, by all standard, was not filed within 14 days of the date of the alleged disqualification. “It took the plaintiff more than 27 days to file the suit. The suit is a pre- election matter. Any pre election matter not filed within the statutory period provided by the law is statute barred.”
Error in law.
However, the plaintiff argued that the trial court erred in law when it held that the Appellant’s suit was statute-barred under section 285(9)
Defendants had argued that the court has no jurisdiction to determine the membership of a political party as it is an internal affair and the sole responsibility of the political party to determine same.Politics
According to defendants, no court can inquire into the issue of membership.
The court held that the issue as to whether or not the Plaintiff was qualified to contest bothers on membership and it is an internal affair of the political party.
The court further held that there’s no dispute worthy of the court’s intervention beteeen the plaintiff and the defendants, the suit is therefore non-justiciable and discloses no reasonable cause of action.
The suit was dismissed based on the above grounds in favour of the defendants.
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