•Apex Court declares Sanwo-Olu, Yusuf, Otti, Mutfwang, Lawal, Otu, Nwifuru, Bala validly-elected govs
From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Supreme Court on Friday affirmed the election of governors of Lagos, Abia, Bauchi and Ebonyi and others. It also restored the mandate of the governors of Kano and Plateau, who were earlier sacked by the lower courts, sparking off jubilation in the affected states.
Lagos
The Supreme Court affirmed Babajide Sanwo-Olu as the duly elected governor of Lagos State.
The apex court dismissed the appeal filed by Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party for lacking in merit.
Justice Garba Lawal who read the lead judgment said the petition was a gross abuse of court process.
Sanwo-Olu of the All Progressives Congress defeated the candidates of the LP, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, and PDP’s Azeez Adediran, to win the governorship election.
Displeased with the outcome of the election, the LP and PDP candidates challenged Sanwo-Olu’s victory at the tribunal. The tribunal dismissed their petitions for lacking in merit.
Challenging the decision at the Court of Appeal, Adediran filed 34 grounds of appeal, while Rhodes-Vivour filed 21. The appeals were also dismissed.
The two candidates appealed against the appellate court’s judgment and asked the apex court to vacate the order.
Kano
The Supreme Court, on Friday, restored the victory of Abba Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) as the governor of Kano State.
Governor Yusuf’s election that was earlier nullified by both the Kano State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and the Court of Appeal was restored by a unanimous judgment of the apex court.
A panel of Justices of the Supreme Court led by Inyang Okoro unanimously departed from the concurrent decisions of the two lower courts sacking Yusuf to uphold his victory at the March 2023 election.
Delivering the lead decision on Friday, Okoro set aside the conclusion of the Court of Appeal on the two prime issues on which the lower court’s decision sacking Governor Yusuf was anchored.
It also affirmed that Yusuf was validly nominated, contrary to the decision of the lower court that his candidacy was invalid on the grounds that he was not a bonafide member of his party, the NNPP.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Yusuf as the winner of the March 18, 2023, election. However, his close contender, Gawuna of the APC, challenged the outcome of the election, alleging electoral malpractices.
The Kano State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal and the Court of Appeal had earlier nullified Yusuf’s victory and declared Gawuna the winner of the poll.
Yusuf and his party headed to the Supreme Court, seeking to nullify the decisions of the lower courts.
The suit was predicated on alleged forgery of NNPP membership card by Governor Yusuf, and vote manipulation by INEC in favour of the governor.
One of the main issues in the appeal was also whether the lower court was right to have cancelled 165,616 votes that were ascribed to Yusuf.
Plateau
The Supreme Court on Friday restored the victory of Caleb Mutfwang as the duly elected Governor of Plateau State.
The apex court in a unanimous judgment allowed the appeal filed by the governor and set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal which nullified his election.
Justice Emmanuel Agim who delivered the judgment faulted the Court of Appeal for assuming jurisdiction to adjudicate on the appeal in the first place.
Justice Agim added that the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate have no locus standi to have delved into the internal affairs of another political party.
The court held that “the validity of a primary election and nomination of candidates of political parties is not a ground for an election petition.
“It is not in dispute that the appellant was nominated by his political party, the Peoples Democratic Party as its governorship candidate for Plateau State for the March 18, 2023 governorship election.
“From the above fact, the Court of Appeal lacked the jurisdiction to determine the issue of nomination and sponsorship of the appellant for any reason. In addition, this question cannot even be entertained because it has become statute barred.
“The legal profession should wake up or it would render itself irrelevant to the society. The appeal is allowed and the judgment of the Court of Appeal is hereby set aside.
“The judgment of the Plateau State Governorship Petition Tribunal is restored,” Justice Agim ruled.
Abia
The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the election of Alex Otti as the duly elected governor of Abia.
Justice Uwani Abba-Aji while delivering the judgment dismissed the appeal against the victory of Otti.
NAN reports that the appeals were lodged against Otti, who won his election on the platform of the Labour Party (LP), by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Okey Ahiwe, and his counterpart in the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Ikechi Emenike.
Dissatisfied with the outcome of the election, both Ahiwe and Emenike of the APC, who came third, separately challenged it. However, in a judgment delivered on October 6, 2023, the Abia State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal dismissed the petitions and upheld Otti’s victory.
The verdict of the tribunal was affirmed by the Court of Appeal in Lagos, which also dismissed appeals that were entered against Otti by both the PDP and APC candidates.
Zamfara
The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the election of Governor Dauda Lawal as the validly elected governor of Zamfara State after allowing his appeal as meritorious.
The court in a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim restored the judgment of the Zamfara State Governorship election tribunal and set aside the decision of the Court of Appeal for being perverse.
It equally set aside the order of the Court of Appeal ordering a rerun in three Local Government Areas of the state, namely; Maradun, Bimin-Magaji, and Bukkuyum.
The court held that Bello Matawalle who filed a petition at the tribunal against the victory of Lawal failed woefully to prove allegations of over-voting, non-accreditation; and non-holding of election.
Justice Agim also held that the vital documents needed to prove the above allegations, including BVAS; Forms EC8As; Voters registrar; Forms EC 40G, were not presented before the tribunal.
He said that the witnesses called by the petitioner and who testified at the tribunal were not relevant and necessary witnesses as they were not present at the polling units.
Governor Lawal filed the appeal against the judgment of the Court of Appeal, ordering a rerun in three local government areas of the state.
The Appeal Court upturned the ruling of the tribunal which affirmed the declaration of Dauda by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the winner of the March 18 governorship election in the state.
Matawalle, who contested under the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC) had approached the tribunal, challenging the validity of the election that brought in Dauda Lawal as the governor of the state.
Bauchi
The Supreme Court has affirmed the election of Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State after dismissing the appeal filed by the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in the state, Sadique Abubakar against his election for lacking in merit
In a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Ibrahim Saulawa, the court resolved all the six issues raised in the appeal against the appellant.
Consequently, the apex court affirmed the judgment of the Court of Appeal delivered on November 17, 2023, upholding the victory of Governor Bala Mohammed.
Justice Saulawa held that “having exhaustively resolved all the six issues raised in the appeal against the appellant, the appeal is devoid of merit and is hereby dismissed.
“Accordingly, the judgment of the Court of Appeal delivered on November 17 is hereby affirmed. A three-member panel of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Chidi Nwaoma Uwa held that the appellant could not prove that the forms used for the election were not properly filled.
The appellate court further held that the APC candidate failed to provide credible evidence and testimony to buttress his allegations.
Abubakar who was displeased with the appeal court’s verdict appealed at the Supreme Court.
Ebonyi
The Supreme Court has affirmed the election of Francis Nwifuru as the duly elected Governor of Ebonyi State.
The apex court, in a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Tijani Abubakar dismissed the appeal filed by Chukwuma Odii of the Peoples Democratic Party.
The Court of Appeal in Lagos had earlier affirmed the election of Nwifuru as the duly elected governor of Ebonyi State.
In a unanimous decision, the three-member panel led by Justice Jummai Sankey dismissed the appeal filed by Odii.
The panel also resolved all five issues raised against the appellant and dismissed the appeal for lacking merit.
Justice Sankey held that the PDP and its candidates lacked the legal right to meddle in the internal affairs of the All Progressives Congress as it relates to the nomination of candidates.
Cross River
The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the victory of Governor Bassey Otu as the governor of Cross River State in the 2023 governorship election.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Sen. Sandy Onor challenged the membership of Otu, in the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Court of Appeal, Calabar Judicial Division, had dismissed the appeal filed by the PDP governorship candidate and Onor against Otu.
Onor had approached both the tribunal and appellate court, insisting that Otu must be disqualified from the race for allegedly holding a dual citizenship, certificate forgery and for not being a member of the APC as of the time of the election.
But the lower courts dismissed the PDP petitions, agreeing with the governor’s submission that the PDP cannot challenge the governor on the grounds of party sponsorship and nomination because they were not aspirants during the APC governorship primaries.