• Delivers judgment on Delta, Nasarawa, Kaduna, others today

From Godwin Tsa, Abuja

The Supreme Court, yesterday, dismissed the appeal brought by the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and its candidate, Nafiu Bala, against the victory of Governor Muhammadu Yahaya in the March 18, 2023 governorship election, which was earlier upheld by both election tribunal and the Court of Appeal.

ADC and Bala had sought to contest the outcome of the election despite scoring less than 2,000 votes in the election.

However, the apex court requested to know what the party and its candidate wanted to achieve by the appeal.

Understanding the mood of the court, the lawyers representing Bala and ADC promptly withdrew the appeal, leading to the dismissal of the appeal by the apex court.

Governor Yahaya of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after he polled 342,821 votes out of the total cast.

The Supreme Court would deliver  judgment in the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)  and its candidate, Muhammad Barde, today.

Similarly, the apex Court will, today, deliver judgments on the appeals contesting the outcome of the March 18, 2023 governorship elections in Delta, Nasarawa, Kaduna and Taraba states.

In the case of Delta State, the Supreme Court had, on January 9, reserved judgment on three separate appeals that seek to nullify the election of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori.

A five-member panel of the apex court led by Inyang Okoro decided after all the parties had adopted their final briefs of argument.

The multiple appeals were filed by the candidates of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Ovie Omo-Agege, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Labour Party (LP), Kenneth Gbaji and Ken Pela, respectively.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Oborevwori of the PDP who polled 360,234 votes ahead of Omo-Agegewith 240,229 votes winner.

In their respective appeals, the appellants had urged the Supreme Court to invalidate the November 24, 2023 judgment of the Court of Appeal in Lagos State, which dismissed their case for want of merit and affirmed Oborevwori of PDP, as the bona fide winner of the contest.

They equally faulted an earlier judgment of the Delta State governorship election petition tribunal, which on September 29, 2023 affirmed Oborevwori’s election.

Omo-Agege, who is the immediate past Senate deputy president, contended the election was not conducted in substantial compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act. He told the apex court that the results were not properly recorded at some polling units, adding that the forms that contained some of the recorded results did not have serial numbers.

While the SDP candidate, Gbagi, prayed the court to declare that Governor Oborevwori was not eligible to contest the election, Pela urged the Court to nullify the entire election and declare a fresh one.

Nasarawa

On Tuesday, January 16, the apex court reserved judgment on the appeal challenging the results of March 18, 2023 governorship election held in Nasarawa State.

Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, who led a five-member panel reserved judgment after all the parties had argued and adopted their briefs of argument.

The Abuja division of the Court of Appeal had, on November 23, upturned the tribunal judgment that sacked Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State.

The court held the tribunal erred in law when it concluded that Governor Sule of the APC did not win the majority of lawful votes cast in the election.

In the lead verdict delivered by Uchechukwu Onuemenam, the appellate court held the record before it established the tribunal relied on legally inadmissible evidence to declare the candidate of the PDP, David Ombugadu, winner.

According to the appellate court, the tribunal wrongly relied on the evidence of eight of the witnesses that were produced by the PDP candidate, whose witness statements on oath were not front-loaded alongside the petition.

It stressed that under Section 285(5) of the 1999 Constitution, Section 132(7) of the Electoral Act 2022, and Paragraphs 4(5) (6) and 14(2) of the First Schedule to the Electoral Act, every written statement on oath must be filed alongside the petition within the statutorily allocated time.

The appellate court struck out all the evidence and exhibits that were tendered before the tribunal by the eight witnesses.

It held that the evidence of the 12 remaining witnesses who testified for the PDP candidate was not sufficient to sustain the judgment of the tribunal.

More so, the appellate court held the tribunal was in error when it deducted 1,868 votes credited to Governor Sule on the premise that over-voting occurred in four polling units.

It was the findings of the appellate that the tribunal was wrong in its decision since the petitioners did not provide the necessary documents needed to prove over-voting.

It held that the tribunal acted wrongly when it recomputed votes and made the declaration that returned the PDP candidate as the winner of the election.

Consequently, the court vacated the order of the tribunal that directed INEC to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Governor Sule of the APC and issue a fresh one to Ombugadu of the PDP.

Dissatisfied with the judgment of the appellate court, the PDP and its candidate approached the Supreme Court to set it aside.

The appellants, on Tuesday, urged the apex court to reinstate the majority decision of the tribunal, which recognised them as valid winners of the gubernatorial poll.

Kaduna

The Supreme Court, yesterday, January 18 reserved judgment on the appeal filed by the PDP and its candidate, Mohammed Isa, who had challenged the outcome of the election won by Governor Uba Sani of the APC.

The Court of Appeal in Abuja had, on November 24, 2023, in a unanimous judgment, affirmed the election of Sani.

However, the appellants in their appeal before the Supreme Court, alleged that Sani was not duly elected by a majority of valid votes cast in the election.

They contended that the election was invalid because of corrupt practices and non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.

They further alleged that some polling unit results were wrongfully cancelled, insisting there were inconsistencies in accreditation records from INEC.

But INEC and APC asked the Supreme Court to ignore the appeal brought before it by the PDP and its governorship candidate, Mohammed Isa.

INEC and APC, in separate preliminary objections against hearing of the appeal, insisted the petition by PDP and Isa was incompetent and worthless to be considered for adjudication.

At yesterday’s proceedings, the two respondents drew the attention of the apex court to the findings by the Kaduna State governorship election petitions tribunal and the Court of Appeal to the effect that the petition was not filed in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.

Among others, the electoral body and APC maintained records established that the petitioners acted in breach of Paragraph 18(1) of the First Schedule to the Electoral Act 2022, when they prematurely applied to the tribunal for the issuance of a pre-hearing notice.

They explained that the law provided that such an application must be filed seven days after the close of pleadings by the parties.

According to them, the law is that a case must be initiated by due process of the law.

They subsequently asked the Supreme Court to turn down any request to attach probative value to the appeal and to either strike out the appeal or dismiss it in its entirety.

In the main appeal, Governor Sani, represented by Bayo Ojo, asked the apex court to dismiss the appeal for want of merit and substance.

Ojo, former attorney general of the federation (AGF) and minister of justice canvassed that the totality of the case of the PDP and its governorship candidate did not establish the proof of any of their allegations.

He argued that most of the appellants’ witness statements were invalid because they were not filed alongside the petition.

Besides, the former AGF informed the apex court that the witnesses brought by the appellants gave hearsay evidence.

He, thereafter, asked that the appeal be dismissed and the concurrent findings of the Court of Appeal and the tribunal which had earlier upheld the election of his client upheld.

Kudirat Kekere-Ekun-led panel of five justices, after taking arguments from lawyers, announced that judgment has been reserved till a date that would be communicated to parties.

Taraba

In the case of Taraba, the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) and its governorship candidate, Yahaya Sani, are challenging the declaration of Governor Kefas Agbu of the PDP as winner.

The Court of Appeal, Abuja, had affirmed the victory of PDP and Agbu.

The three-member panel of the appellate court, in two separate appeals, held that Agbu was lawfully declared the winner.

A five-member panel of the apex court, led by Kudirat Kekere Ekun, had on January 17, reserved judgment on the appeal after various counsel had adopted their briefs of arguments.

Counsel to the incumbent governor and PDP, Kanu Agabi, former attorney general of the federation and minister of justice, asked the apex court to either strike out the case of the appellants or dismiss it outrightly. Agabi told Kekere-Ekun that the NNPP case and its governorship candidate lacked merit and substance.

He said the appeal of the appellants was grossly incompetent to be considered because of the several flaws in the way the case was couched and presented at the apex court.

INEC adopted the arguments canvassed by the governor’s lawyer in resolving the dispute.

But Olusegun Jolaawo, NNPP lead counsel and Sani, appealed to the panel to allow the case of his clients and grant all their reliefs.