Guber elections: Appeal Court judgments spike controversies

…As Court reinstates Sule as Governor of Nasarawa State

…Cross River, Benue PDP challenge Court’s verdict, head to Supreme Court

By Moses Adeniyi, Sodiq Adelakun and Titus Atondu

The judgment of the Court of Appeal over the outcomes of tribunal verdicts on the various State Governorship Elections contests in the last general elections have continued to pose dynamics in the country’s political landscape.  

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, on Thursday, reversed the nullification of the election of Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State.

The appellate court, in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel of justices, voided the verdict of the Nasarawa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which sacked Governor Sule of the All Progressives Congress, (APC).

In the lead verdict that was delivered by Justice Uchechukwu Onuemenam, the appellate court held that evidence before it established that the tribunal relied on legally inadmissible evidence to declare the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), David Ombugadu, as the valid winner of the governorship election that was held in the State on March 18.

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 statements on oath were not front-loaded alongside the petition.

It stressed that Section 285(5) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, 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.

“Where a trial court admitted and acted on illegally inadmissible evidence, it is the duty of the appellate court to ensure that such illegally inadmissible evidence is expunged.

“A court of law is only allowed to act on legally admissible evidence. If documents are unlawfully allowed by a trial court, the appellate court is duty-bound to exclude the documents and discountenance the evidence.”

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

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

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

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

The Court noted that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), machines, and other electoral documents were merely dumped on the tribunal without any demonstration to show how the over-voting occurred.

It faulted the tribunal for summarily dismissing the evidence of witnesses that testified for the APC candidate, describing the action as “perverse,” adding that none of the witnesses that were called by the PDP and its candidate gave valid evidence that the tribunal could have acted on.

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.

“On the whole, I hold that this appeal has merit and succeeds; the majority judgment of the tribunal delivered on October 2 is hereby dismissed,” the court held.

Consequently, it vacated the order of the tribunal that directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the Certificate of Return that was issued to Governor Sule as the winner of the governorship contest.

Meanwhile, on the Gombe gubernatorial election, the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Thursday affirmed the election of the Gombe state governor, Inuwa Yahaya.

Inuwa polled 342,821 votes to emerge winner of March 18, Gombe State, gubernatorial election.

However, not satisfied with the result, the candidate of the PDP, Mohammed Barde, challenged Inuwa’s victory at the tribunal presided over by Justice S.B. Belgore. His case was struck out for lack of merit.

The tribunal ruled that the allegation was baseless and that the petitioners failed to prove the alleged election malpractices and therefore struck out the petition.

On the other hand, the PDP in Cross River has vowed to proceed to contest Wednesday’s Appeal Court judgment that affirmed Gov. Bassey Otu as the winner of the March 18 governorship election in the State.

The party’s decision to challenge Otu’s electoral victory is contained in a statement issued by its state publicity secretary, Mr Mike Ojisi, on Thursday.

While urging PDP supporters to remain calm, Ojisi noted that the verdict of the appellate court did not reflect the full conviction of the party’s position on the processes leading to the election.

“While we are saddened by this temporary setback, we are, however, glad that there is still room at the Supreme Court, and this is the beauty of our judicial system and democracy.

“We kindly appeal to our teeming supporters and party faithful to remain calm, as we are still committed to seeking legal opinions and exhausting all legal means toward reclaiming our mandate,” he said.

The Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos had, on Wednesday, affirmed the tribunal judgment that upheld Otu’s victory after dismissing the PDP candidate’s petition for lack of merit.

Meanwhile, the governor, who had earlier called for an end to further litigation on the matter, said that he remained unshaken by the petition against his electoral victory in the March 18 governorship poll.

Speaking on the appeal court judgment, Otu said that he believed that the people of the state overwhelmingly gave him their mandate.

He said it was time for all, irrespective of political party affiliations, to join hands with him to move the state forward.

The Governor said that the affirmation of his victory by the court had given him an added impetus to serve the state and move it forward with his ‘People First’ agenda.

“The ruling of the Court of Appeal is a welcome development, and it affirms that we were overwhelmingly voted in by the people on March 18, 2023.

“This judgment should bring an end to litigation on the outcome of the governorship election. For those in the opposition, especially my brother, Prof. Sandy Onor, I once again offer you a hand of friendship.

“Come and join my administration so that together we can move our state forward and bring about the dividends of democracy.”

“My administration is fully re-energised to deliver on the ‘People First’ mandate, which is on track to reposition our state for effective and responsive governance,” he had said.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Benue State also vowed to exhaustively pursue the legal option to recover the Governorship of the state which it believes rightly belongs to them from the All Progressives Congress (APC).

In a press statement signed by the State Publicity Secretary of the party, Bemgba Iortyom and made available to Nigerian NewsDirect,  the PDP restated its position following the judgement of the Court of Appeal  in Abuja which dismissed the appeal by the party’s Governorship Candidate, Engr. Titus Tyoapine Uba, against the earlier judgement of the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal which upheld the victory of Hyacinth Alia as Governor of the state on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the 2023 elections.

The Party insisted that its governorship candidate, Engr. Uba won the election in the state. According to the statement, “the party’s leadership will consult with the legal team on the best possible approach to the next step in the litigation process.”