The Mega Party of Nigeria (MPN) in Ekiti State is currently at war with itself over who is its rightful candidate, three weeks to the governorship election Sunday Balogun, the supposed winner of the MPN May 12 governorship primaries is now in court challenging the adoption of Adebisi Omoyeni.
Mr Balogun on Monday filed a suit at the Federal High Court, Ado Ekiti, praying the court to remove the name of Mr Omoyeni on the grounds that the candidate did not emerge from the primary conducted by the MPN.
The suit has as defendants the MPN, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mr Omoyeni and eight others.
Mr Balogun said he was in court to challenge the alleged injustice done to him.
He averred that the substitution of his name with that of Mr Omoyeni, a
former Deputy Governor of Ekiti State, violated Section 33 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).
According to him, Mr Omoyeni was not a member of the MPN at the time he contested the primaries, which he (Mr Balogun) won on May 12.
He urged the court to set aside the Terms of Settlement relied upon by the party to hand Mr Omoyeni the ticket he won at the primary.
Mr Balogun further prayed the court to grant a mandatory injunction recognising him as the authentic MPN governorship candidate.
He expressed confidence that he would fly the flag of the MPN at the July 14 governorship poll he believed the court would do justice to his case.
Addressing his supporters after the case was filed, Mr Balogun said he took the action to challenge the alleged injustice meted out to him after he won a keenly contested primary only to be dropped for Mr Omoyeni.
He vowed to follow the case to a logical conclusion to retrieve his mandate, saying the sanctity of the votes cast for him by delegates must be protected.
“As at 12 midnight on June 14 when I left INEC office in Abuja, my name was yet to be substituted; me and my DG were there for more than one-and-half weeks and nobody had an idea of when the name of Omoyeni was smuggled in,” he alleged.
“Immediately we notified the court, we notified the Inspector General of Police. At a time in point I arrested the National Chairman, Hamisu San Turaki and the National Secretary in Abuja and we locked them up.
“The primary was conducted and we passed through all due process. Intention form was given at cost of N1 million and the nomination form was sold to us at the rate of N5 million.
“I knew when INEC was involved that we were going to have our primary on May 12 and not only that, people were sent from other parts of the country like Ondo State, Jigawa State, Abuja and other places.
“We even went to Abuja to have a peace accord which was supervised by the national headquarters that whoever wins will be supported by others and all of us signed.”
When contacted, the chairman of the party, Dare Adegbolu, said he had not been notified about the suit and so would not be able to make comments.
When confronted with the allegations raised by Mr Balogun on his substitution as the candidate of the party, Mr Adegbolu said he would not discuss the issue until he was formally notified of the suit.
