Court to Decide on Olawepo-Hashim's Presidential Ticket Case

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday postponed its judgment on a case filed by Accord member, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim. He wants the court to order the party to recognize him as its presidential candidate for the 2027 elections and send his name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Justice Mohammed Umar set a date for the judgment to be communicated to both parties after their lawyers presented their final written arguments.

Olawepo-Hashim, through his lawyer, Henry Akunebu (SAN), asked the court to tell Accord to upload his name to INEC’s nomination portal as its presidential candidate. He also wants the court to force INEC to accept and recognize his nomination.

The senior lawyer questioned the validity of documents submitted by Accord and INEC. He specifically pointed out a letter that supposedly canceled the party's presidential primaries. He said the document had no official stamp from the party and was sent to the INEC chairman but was received by an unnamed national commissioner.

Akunebu asked the court to ignore these documents, calling them made-up during the court case. He also criticized the party’s membership register, claiming it had no certificate of compliance and argued that the presidential primary election was never canceled.

On the other hand, Accord's lawyer, T.W. Olusesi, urged the court to throw out the case. He insisted that the presidential primaries were validly canceled because no candidates bought nomination forms or showed up for the exercise.

He claimed that INEC did not monitor the primaries because they had already been canceled. The lawyer for INEC, D.J. Gusen, supported the party's argument. He told the court that the commission did not monitor the exercise after receiving a cancellation letter from one of its national commissioners.

Gusen also asked the court to dismiss the case.

In the original case, Olawepo-Hashim asked the court to rule on whether the party’s refusal to upload his name to INEC’s nomination portal violated the Electoral Act 2026, the Constitution, and INEC’s Guidelines for Political Parties. He claimed he was the only winner of the presidential primaries held on May 30.

He wanted the court to declare that the party’s failure to submit his name broke Section 86 of the Electoral Act 2026 and Clauses 28(1) and 28(2) of the INEC guidelines on candidate nominations. He also asked the court to order Accord to submit his name to INEC or, as a backup, tell the party to hold a new presidential primary that he would join.

In support of his case, Olawepo-Hashim said he is a registered and financial member of the party. He claimed he spent N7 million to support its electronic membership registration and paid N50 million as a nomination fee for the presidential primary.

He insisted he was the only candidate and winner of a primary supposedly watched by INEC officials. He accused the party of not sending his name to the electoral commission.

Akunebu argued that political parties must follow the Electoral Act, their constitutions, and INEC guidelines when nominating candidates. He said a party that held a valid primary election has a legal duty to submit the winner’s name to INEC. He urged the court to support the principles of internal party democracy by granting all the requests made by his client.