For Ondo State Governor Olusegun Mimiko, it was fresh victory Thursday as the Supreme Court dismissed the appeals by Chief Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and Chief Olusola Oke of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) against his electoral victory.
The duo challenged the verdict of the Court of Appeal which upheld the victory of Mimiko in the state governorship elections.
Akeredolu and Oke had argued that Mimiko’s victory at the polls was fraudulently attained by tampering with the voters’ register and through multiple registration.
In its judgment prepared by Justice Walter Onnonghen and read by Justice Sylvester Nguta, the apex court held that Akeredolu and Oke did not prove their cases beyond reasonable doubt.
The court held that the appellants failed to prove that members of the Labour Party (LP) engaged in multiple registration.
In his appeal, Akeredolu had told the court that there was multiple registration by members of the LP that sponsored Mimiko for the election.
When the case was heard last Tuesday, a full panel of the apex court headed by Justice Walter Onnonghen, struck out the name of the second appellant in the first appeal (ACN) for no longer existing having merged with other parties to form All Progressives Congress (APC).
Consequently, after listening to arguments of all parties in the two appeals, the court fixed its verdict for yesterday. Counsel to Mimiko, Wole Olanipekun (SAN) after announcing his appearance, had asked the court to note that the second appellant in the first appeal, ACN, was no longer in existence as it had become part of another party which was not before the court.
Counsel to Akeredolu, Wole Aina, prayed the court not to acknowledge that ACN was no longer in existence since there was no evidence before the court to prove this. But he, on the alternative, moved an application to substitute the name ACN for APC.
Counsel to Labour Party, Yusuf Ali (SAN), submitted that no one of school age would say he was not aware of the death of ACN as being part of APC.
After listening to the submissions of all parties, the court stood the matter down for ruling.
In its ruling, the apex court held that it was the duty of the second appellant to inform the court that the ACN had become part of APC.
“We have carefully gone through the provision of Section 109(2) (g) and 97 of the Electoral Act, 2010 as amended which the second appellant drew our attention to.
“It does not avail the appellant as the section deals with the candidate and not the party as in this instant case.
“We agree with the submission of the INEC counsel that this court lacks jurisdiction to grant the application because doing so will amount to amendment of the appeal.
“The application is hereby refused, consequently, the name of the second appellant is hereby struck out,” he said.
Akeredolu had submitted that the election was invalid as there were many irregularities and gross violation of the election, adding that the conduct of the exercise was not in compliance with the Electoral Act. He prayed the court to order a fresh election.
Opposing the submission, Olanipekun prayed the court to dismiss the appeal on the ground of the court ruling striking out the name of ACN in the case before it.
He argued that the appeal had become an academic exercise, adding that what qualifies a party is the sponsorship of a candidate for a particular election but in the instant case, APC was not in existence when the election was conducted.
Arguing the second appeal, counsel to Olusola Oke, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), urged the court to order a fresh election in Ondo State.
He premised his argument on the grounds that the voters’ register was not displayed as provided for by the Electoral Act and that over 100,000 names were infused into it.
Also opposing the application, counsel to Mimiko submitted that the lower court did not at anytime agree that names were injected into the voters’ register list and that the issue was a pre-election matter.
The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mariam Aloma Mukhtar, had cut short the vacation of the court for the first time in 50 years all in a bid to beat the 60 days’ deadline provided for the hearing of appeals from the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court.
The court had earlier fixed September 24 to commence hearing in the appeals but following protests from some quarters that the date would be outside the mandatory 60 days to determine the election petition appeals, the CJN adjusted the hearing date to Tuesday
Author of this article: From Lemmy Ughegbe, Abuja
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