SAN FRANCISCO, April 10, (THEWILL) – The Supreme court has struck out an appeal filed by a former Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Kwara state over the dissolution of the state exco.
The appellant, Isola Balogun-Fulani, challenged the dissolution of his exco by the National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole on July 30, 2018.
He is contending that his exco has a four-year tenure which had not expired before Oshiomhole dissolved them and set up a caretaker community.
Yusuf Ali on behalf of the appellant argued that their appeal should be heard because it is a pre-election matter that has a lifespan of 60 days at the apex court and will expire on Friday.
But counsel to the APC’s National Chairman, Akin Olujinmi opposed to the hearing of the appeal because it is not an election matter, as such there is no urgency.
He added that the case of the appellant is the dissolution of the state APC exco in Kwara and has nothing whatsoever to do with the election.
Counsel to the APC, Lateef Fagbemi, also aligned himself with the National Chairman of the party that the appeal has nothing to do with the election other than challenge the powers of the Mr. Oshiomhole for dissolving the exco.
The presiding judge, Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour, who presided over the five-man panel stood down to decide on whether it is a pre-election matter or not.
In a unanimous ruling of a five-man panel of the Apex court delivered by Justice Olukayode Ariwola on Wednesday, the court held that the transmissions of the appeal were done outside the 14 days allowed by the rules of court.
He said that since rules of court are meant to be obeyed, the appeal having defaulted is incompetent and should be dismissed.
