The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday confirmed the official replacement of Olusola Ebiseni sacked by the Court of Appeal with Dr. Olorunfemi Ayodele Festus, as the Ondo State Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate in the Saturday’s election.
The electoral umpire announced Ebiseni’s replacement in a statement posted on its X handle where the commission announced an updated list of candidates participating in the governorship election.
The commission said the replacement of Ebiseni was sequel to its receipt of the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgment of the Court of Appeal which sacked Ebiseni and set aside the judgment of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja.
SaharaReporters had reported that a three-member panel of justices of the Appellate Court on Wednesday in a unanimous lead judgment read by Justice Adebukola Banjoko sacked Ebiseni as the LP flagbearer for the Ondo governorship election.
The Federal High Court had in suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1105/2024 on September 27, 2024 ordered INEC to accept Ebiseni as the candidate of the Labour Party for the Ondo governorship election.
Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court had ruled that the second primary election conducted by the Labour Party, which led to Ebiseni and Awude’s emergence as candidates, was valid and should be upheld by INEC.
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 judgment of the lower court for lack of jurisdiction.
The INEC on Friday said, “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.”