The five-member panel held that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the suit.
The Supreme Court, on Thursday, upheld the 16th July Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)'s governorship primary election that produced the Osun Governor-elect, Ademola Adeleke, as its candidate.
The five-member panel, in a judgment delivered by Amina Augie, held that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the suit after counsel for the appellant, Adebayo Adelodun (SAN) withdrew the earlier notice of appeal that was filed within time.
Upon resumed hearing in the matter, Mr Adelodun, who appeared for the appellant and a PDP governorship aspirant, Dotun Babayemi, informed that he sought to withdraw the earlier notice of appeal to replace it with the fresh application he filed.
But the panel held that Section 285(11) of the constitution stipulated that an appeal on a pre-election matter must be filed within 14 days from the day of the decision and that having filed the second appeal out of time, the apex court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter
Mr Adelodun, however, argued that the motion was filed within the time and that the counting began a day after the judgement of the Court of Appeal.
The justices on the panel disagreed with him and pointed out that in election matters, the counting of time begins from the date of the event.
They said the apex court had that position and adhered to it in the past eight years on all election-related matters.
They said the only way to deviate from past decisions was for the appellant to apply for a full court to hear him and possibly deviate from the earlier decisions.
They said this would involve the convergence of a seven-man panel of justices as against a five-member.
Mrs Augie, however, said this would not be possible because the time allowed for the matter elapsed today (on Thursday).
"A pre-election matter has a period of 14 days, and like a rock of Gibraltar, it cannot be moved," she said.
Mrs Augie held that there was nothing before the court to invoke its jurisdiction.
Further efforts by Mr Adelodun to persuade the panel to take a look at the merits of the appeal proved abortive as the court held that it lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
Consequently, Mr Adelodun reluctantly withdrew the appeal after Mr Adeleke's lawyer, Oluwole Jimi-Bada, threatened to move a motion to ask for a N10 million cost if the appellant continued to delay the matter.
Mrs Augie, therefore, dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction and was unanimously supported by other justices.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Babayemi had asked the court to invalidate the primary election that produced the governor-elect, citing non-compliance with a court order.
He had prayed the court to declare him as the PDP candidate for the 16 July governorship election in Osun.
In his judgment on the matter on 18 May a judge, Nathaniel Ayo-Emmanuel, of the Federal High Court, sitting in Osogbo, had upheld the governorship primary that produced Mr Adeleke.
Also, the Court of Appeal, Akure Division, in its judgment of 20 July on the appeal filed against the decision of the Federal High Court, Osogbo, aligned with the lower court and dismissed Mr Babayemi's appeal.
(NAN)
