The Federal Excessive Courtroom sitting in Akure, Ondo State capital, on Thursday stopped the purported ambition of Governor Fortunate Aiyedatiwa to contest for a second time period in workplace in 2028.
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress within the state, Dr Akin Egbuwalo, had filed a swimsuit on the courtroom looking for the interpretation of Part 137(3) of the Structure relating to the eligibility of Aiyedatiwa and his deputy, Dr Olayide Adelami, to contest for a second time period.
The swimsuit had the Impartial Nationwide Electoral Fee, the Ondo State Legal professional Basic, the Legal professional Basic of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Aiyedatiwa, Adelami, and the APC as defendants.
In a judgment delivered by Justice Toyin Adegoke, the courtroom held that Aiyedatiwa could be ineligible to face for election in 2028, having been sworn in on December 27, 2023, to finish the tenure of the late Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, and subsequently inaugurated on February 24, 2025, after profitable the November 16, 2024, governorship election.
The choose declared that the 1999 Structure, as amended, didn’t present for a scenario the place an elected president, vice chairman, governor, or deputy would serve greater than eight years in workplace, citing the Supreme Courtroom’s resolution in Marwa v. Nyako.
The courtroom dominated that the swimsuit was not speculative or tutorial, emphasising that it had inherent jurisdiction to interpret any part of the structure, being a creation of regulation and duty-bound to uphold it always.
Justice Adegoke additionally held that the processes of the third to fifth defendants have been deemed deserted, having did not take part through the listening to of the swimsuit, and that solely the processes of the plaintiff and first and second defendants could be thought of.
“If the third defendant is allowed to contest and serve one other 4 years, that might be towards the place of the regulation in Marwa v. Nyako, the place the Supreme Courtroom held {that a} president or governor can not serve past eight years,” the courtroom dominated.
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The courtroom’s verdict additionally acknowledged that it discovered “benefit within the case of the plaintiff and consequently granted all of the reliefs sought.”
The PUNCH reported that on Monday, March 9, 2026, the Courtroom of Attraction in Abuja dismissed an attraction filed by Aiyedatiwa, difficult a ruling of the Akure Federal Excessive Courtroom within the swimsuit questioning his eligibility to contest the subsequent governorship election within the state.
In a unanimous judgment delivered by a three-member panel, the appellate courtroom held that the trial courtroom correctly exercised its discretion when it granted an utility by the plaintiff, Dr Egbuwalo, to amend his originating summons within the case.
Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam, who learn the lead judgment, dominated that Aiyedatiwa failed to indicate that the Federal Excessive Courtroom’s resolution to permit the modification occasioned any miscarriage of justice or denied him the suitable to a good listening to.
Aiyedatiwa was first sworn in as governor on December 27, 2023, after the late Governor Rotimi Akeredolu died.
He was once more sworn in as governor on February 24, 2025, having gained the November governorship election within the state.
In his first anniversary interview, Aiyedatiwa harassed that solely the Supreme Courtroom would cease him from re-contesting the governorship in 2028.
With the defeat within the Federal Excessive Courtroom, Akure, the governor might contemplate an attraction of the judgment.