Layi Olanrewaju, Ilorin
The Court of Appeal, in Ilorin,Kwara State capital, yesterday, sacked the Ishola Balogun-Fulani faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
The court, thereafter, affirmed the authenticity of the Bashir Bolarinwa-led APC executives in the state.
A Kwara State High Court had, on December 19, last year, ruled that the dissolved Ishola Balogun-Fulani executive was the authentic executive of the APC in the state. The lower court, thus, nullified any candidate produced by the Bashir Bolarinwa executive for the forthcoming elections. Dissatisfied with the judgement of the lower court, the APC (appellant) approached the appellate court for redress.
The appellants’ grounds of appeal were that “the claimants cannot join the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at the state High court, because INEC is a Federal Government agency and the amendment of their originating summons was brought in bad faith.
“They brought issues that were not in existence at the time of filing the suit originally. Even though the lower court has discretion, its discretion must be exercised judicially and judiciously, which was not done in this circumstance,” they said.
Delivering his judgment on the main appeal, Justice Ibrahim Salauwa set aside the judgement of the lower court and upheld the Bashir Bolainwa-led executives.