The Federal High Court in Akure has ruled that Ondo State Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa cannot run for another term. The court stated that seeking re-election in the 2028 governorship race would breach the constitutional limit on tenure.

The court gave the ruling on Thursday following the suit filed by Akin Egbuwalo, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), to seek the court’s interpretation on Section 137(3) of the Constitution regarding the eligibility of Aiyedatiwa and his deputy, Olayide Adelami, to contest for another term.

In the suit, the plaintiff named the Independent National Electoral Commission, the Attorney-General of the Federation, Minister of Justice Aiyedatiwa, Adelami and the APC as the defendants in the matter.

Justice Toyin Adegoke’s decision stated that Aiyedatiwa would be ineligible to run for office in 2028 because he was sworn in on December 27, 2023, to complete the term of the late governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, and then inaugurated on February 24, 2025, after winning the governorship election on November 16, 2024.

The judge dismissed the position of the defendants that the suit was speculative and that it had no jurisdiction to interpret any section of the Constitution. The court relied on the decision of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in Marwa v. Nyako, holding that it had the inherent jurisdiction to interpret any section of the Constitution, being a creation of law and duty-bound to uphold it at all times.

Justice Toyin Adegoke maintained that “If the third defendant (Aiyedatiwa) is allowed to contest and serve another four years, that will be against the position of the law as established in Marwa v. Nyako, where the Supreme Court held that a president or governor cannot serve beyond eight years,” the judge ruled.

“This court finds that the action filed by the plaintiff discloses a valid cause of action and cannot be dismissed as speculative or academic. “Whenever a court is invited to interpret any provision of the constitution, the court has the inherent jurisdiction to hear and determine such a matter because the court itself is a creation of law and must uphold the constitution at all times.”

The suit, which was instituted, is against the background of the circumstances surrounding Aiyedatiwa’s emergence as the governor of the state. Recall that the Ondo State governor was sworn in as deputy governor of Ondo State on February 24, 2021, alongside the late Rotimi Akeredolu.

However, Governor Akeredolu, who was elected to serve a second term in office with Aiyedatiwa as his running mate, died in office on December 27, 2023, barely one year and two months before the end of his tenure, and Aiyedatiwa was subsequently sworn in as governor to complete Akeredolu’s tenure.

After Akeredolu’s term ended, Aiyedatiwa made the decision to run for office and won the November 2024 off-cycle election in the state. He was sworn in on February 24, 2025, for a fresh term as the governor.

As his tenure is heading for an end, there have been speculations and legal confusion on whether he is eligible to seek a second term in the same office as governor, particularly as Section 182(3) of the 1999 Constitution states that “a person who was sworn in as governor to complete the term for which another person was elected as governor shall not be elected to such office for more than a single term.”

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