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Appeal Court Reserves Judgment In Gov. Wike’s Bid To Upturn Tribunal Verdict

The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal on Thursday reserved its judgment in the appeal brought by the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, asking it to set aside the judgment of the Rivers State Governorship Election Tribunal, which nullified his election on October 24, 2015.

The appellate court took the decision after the adoption of briefs by counsel to parties in the appeal.

In a notice of appeal dated November 3, 2015 and filed same day by his counsel, Emmanuel Ukala (SAN), Wike raised 26 grounds of appeal upon which he sought to set aside the entire judgment of the tribunal.

But during the course of hearing of the appeal, Counsel to Dakuku Perterside and his party, the All Progressives Congress, Chief Akin Olujinmi (SAN) and Yusuf Ali (SAN) respectively, moved the court to strike out some paragraphs of the appeal on the ground that they do not flow from the decision of the tribunal.

The motion was vehemently opposed by counsel to the appellants, Ukala, Wole Olanikpekun (SAN) and Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN) for Wike, the Peoples Democratic Party and the Independent National Electoral Commission respectively, who argued that the motion lacked merit and should be dismissed.

Ukala challenged the competence of Dakuku’s petition on the ground that it did not carry the stamp and seal of his lawyers contrary to the directives issued by the Nigerian Bar Association that all processes filed must carry the stamp and seal of the counsel.

The issue generated heated debate between counsel who made submissions citing various case laws to support their positions for and against it.

The argument were further triggered by an oral application by Olujinmi for the court to allow him affix his stamp and seal on his processes.

On the main appeal, the lawyers dwelt mainly on the decision of the tribunal on pegging its decision on the failure to use of Card Readers during the conduct of the April 11, 2015 governorship election in the state.

While the appellants’ counsel argued that it was wrong for the tribunal to have relied on the failure to use the Card Reader to arrive at its decision, Dakuku’s counsel said the tribunal’s decision was right in law given the INEC’s regulations on the use of the Card Reader, which the tribunal admitted as exhibit 308.

Beside, Dakuku argued that the Card Reader was used to prove the fact that the total number of accreditation as released by INEC, which conducted the election, was less than the total number of voters in the disputed election.

After the adoption and arguments advanced with respect to other motions, the Court of Appeal announced that its judgment has been reserved.

In his appeal, Governor Wike joined the APC, Peterside, INEC and PDP as respondents.

He asked the court to allow the appeal and to make an order setting aside the judgment/decision of the Rivers State Governorship Election Tribunal.

He further urged the Court of Appeal to make an “order striking out or dismissing the petition filed on May 3, 2015 by Peterside and the APC”.

The governor, in his notice of appeal, stated: “Take notice that the appellant being dissatisfied with the decision of the Governorship Election Tribunal for Rivers State sitting in Abuja, contained in the judgment of the tribunal led by Justice Suleiman Ambrosa  (chairman), Justice Wesley Ibrahim Leha (member) and Hon. Justice Bayo Taiwo (member ) sitting in Court No. 23 of the FCT High  Court dated October 24, 2015, doth hereby appeal to the Court of Appeal upon the grounds set out in paragraph 3 and will at the hearing seek the reliefs set out in paragraph 4.”

Wike, among other grounds, noted that the tribunal erred in law when it relied on hearsay  and inadmissible evidence to nullify his election.

He added that the finding and conclusion of the tribunal was not supported by evidence before the court.

The governor stated in his notice of appeal: “The Governorship Election Tribunal for Rivers State erred in law when it refused to follow the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Kakih vs PDP  (2014) 5 NWLR which was duly cited to it to the effect that a party who makes non-voting or misconduct of an election the pivot of his case must call at least one disenfranchised voter from each of the polling booths or units or stations in the constituency.”

Wike also faulted the tribunal’s decision nullifying his election on the basis of card reader accreditation even though the Electoral Act recognised manual accreditation.

According to him, the proof of accreditation of voters under the law is by the production of the register of voters bearing the indications of the presiding officer as to the persons accredited to vote and not by card reader report.

The governor said: “The tribunal wrongly neglected, failed and refused to abide by and follow the binding decision of the Court of Appeal in APC vs Olujimi Agbaje: Appeal No: CA/L/EP/GOV./751A/2015 (unreported) delivered on 26th August, which was duly cited to it and thereby came to a wrong conclusion.”

He added that the petitioners at the tribunal failed to disclose any reasonable cause of action against the respondents and the tribunal failed to conduct a pre-trial conference after the removal of the first chairman, hence the tribunal erred in its judgment.

The governor  stated: “The tribunal  wrongly countenanced the testimony of delegates  of subpoenaed witnesses which basically constitutes an indirect alteration of or addition to  the statement of facts of the petition without  the leave of the court. The testimony of these witnesses runs counter to the pleaded case of the petitioners and contradict the rest of the evidence of the petitioners witnesses in several material particulars.”

-Frontiers News

Monday Ashibogwu

Monday Michaels Ashibogwu is Editor-In-Chief of QUICK NEWS AFRICA, one of Nigeria's leading online news service.

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