Twenty four hours to the governorship election in Ondo State, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has swapped the Labour Party candidate, Olusola Ebiseni with Dr. Olorunfemi Ayodele Festus.
The commission said the replacement was done after it was served with the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the ruling of the Court of Appeal which set aside the judgement of the Federal High Court, Abuja Division.
This is contained in a statement on X handle of the commission on Friday.
The Federal High Court, in suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1105/2024, had on September 27, 2024 ordered INEC to accept Olusola Ebiseni as the candidate of the Labour Party (LP) for the 2024 Ondo State Governorship election.
“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 judgement of the FHC for lack of jurisdiction.
“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,” the statement said.
Speaking on the development, the LP National Publicity Secretary, Obiorah Ifoh, said Ebiseni was the candidate produced by the NLC group in the party, but that Appeal Court had kicked him out while restoring “the valid candidate,” Dr Olorunfemi.
