ABUJA— The Supreme Court, on Friday, put to rest, legal dispute that trailed the outcome of the governorship election that was held in six states of the federation on March 18, 2023.
The apex court, in separate judgements, preserved the seats of six governors whose victories at the poll were challenged by opposition candidates.
The governors that got respite from the court on Friday were, Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State; Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State; Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State; Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State; Nasir Idris of Kebbi State and Uba Sani of Kaduna State.
The judgements ensured that the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, retained Delta state, while the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, maintained its hold on five states that were embroiled in the gubernatorial dissension.
In Delta state, the apex court, while affirming the election victory of governor Oborevwori, dismissed three separate appeals that sought to sack him from office.
In a unanimous decision by a five-member panel, the court held that the appeals, which were filed by Senator Ovie Omo-Agege of the APC, Mr. Kenneth Gbagi of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, and Ken Pela of the Labour Party, LP, lacked merit.
The three aggrieved candidates failed to persuade the court to invalidate the November 24, 2023, judgement of the Court of Appeal which dismissed their cases and declared Oborevwori of the PDP as the bonafide winner of the governorship contest.
The Appellants had faulted an earlier judgement of the Delta State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Asaba which had on September 29, upheld Oborevwori election.
Specifically, Omo-Agege, who is the immediate past Deputy President of the Senate, had insisted that Oborevwori was not the valid winner of the poll.
It was his position that the election was not conducted in substantial compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act 2022, stressing that result of the poll was not properly recorded at some polling units.
Omo-Agege told the apex court that some of the forms that contained recorded results of the election that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, relied upon to return Oborevwori as winner of the poll, were bereft of serial numbers.
Whereas the SDP candidate, Gbagi, sought the invalidation of Oborevwori’s election on the premise that he was not qualified to contest, the LP candidate, Pela, prayed the court to order a fresh governorship poll in Delta State.
While dismissing the appeals as grossly lacking in merit, the apex court held that the Appellants failed to effectively discharge the burden of proof that was placed on them by the law.
It held that the Appellants did not establish that the governorship election was not conducted in substantial compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act.
According to the court, even if the total number of INEC forms that the APC candidate, Omo-Agege complained about, were removed, it would still not affect the margin of lead that was in Oborevwori’s favour.
The apex court held that it found no reason to dislodge the concurrent verdicts of the Court of Appeal and the Delta State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, which affirmed Oborevwori’s election.
Consequently, it dismissed all the petition without cost.
While Justice Inyang Okoro delivered the lead judgement in Omo-Agege’s case, Justice Mohammed Garba read the verdict in Gbagi’s case, while Justice Uwani Abba-Aji read the lead judgement in Pela’s appeal.
INEC declared that Oborevwori of the PDP polled 360, 234 votes to win the governorship election ahead of his major challenger, Omo-Agege of the APC who secured 240, 229 votes.
Pela of the LP came third with 48,027 votes, while Great Ogboru of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA came fourth with 11,021 votes.
Ogun State
In Ogun state, the court said it was satisfied that governor Abiodun’s re-election followed the due process.
It dismissed an appeal the PDP and its candidate, Ladi Adebutu, filed to nullify the outcome of the governorship poll that held in the state.
In its lead judgement that was prepared by Justice Tijjani Abubakar, the apex court said that it found no reason to unseat governor Abiodun, who was the candidate of the APC.
“This appeal is unmeritorous and it is accordingly dismissed,” the court held.
INEC, had declared that governor Abiodun polled a total of 276,298 votes to defeat his closest rival, Adebutu of the PDP who garnered a total of 262,383 votes.
Dissatisfied with the outcome of the poll, Adebutu approached the Ogun State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, insisting that he was the valid winner of the gubernatorial contest.
He, among other things, alleged that the election was not conducted with substantial compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.
Aside from alleging that the election was marred by irregularities and corrupt practices, Adebutu alleged that over 40,000 voters from his strongholds were disenfranchised due to violence.
He told the tribunal that he secured the highest number of valid votes cast at the election and therefore ought to have been declared the winner by INEC.
However, Adebutu’s petition was dismissed by the Justice Hamidu Kunaza led three-man tribunal which affirmed Abiodun as the bonafide winner of the contest.
Likewise, the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal, on November 24, 2023, in a split judgement of two-to-three, upheld the decision of the tribunal.
While the appellate court, in its majority decision that was delivered by Justice Joseph Ikyegh, found no reason to dislodge the judgement of the tribunal, in her minority verdict, Justice Jane Inyang directed INEC to withdraw the Certificate of Return it issued to Abiodun and to within 90 days, conduct a fresh election in some polling units in the state.
Whereas Adebutu approached the Supreme Court to challenge the majority judgement of the appellate court, on the other hand, governor Abiodun lodged a cross-appeal to set aside the minority verdict that ordered the fresh election.
INEC equally lodged a cross-appeal, praying the Supreme Court to validate the result of the election that it earlier announced.
On the day he adopted his brief of argument, Adebutu’s lawyer, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, told the apex court that INEC was ordered to conduct a fresh poll in 99 polling units where results were either cancelled or election did not hold at all.
He argued that inview of the number of units affected by the order for a fresh election, as well as the margin of lead principle, it was wrong for INEC to declare and return Abiodun of the APC as winner of the gubernatorial contest.
On its part, INEC, through its team of lawyers led by Mr. Abiodun Owonikoko, SAN, urged the apex court to dismiss Adebutu’s appeal as lacking in merit.
INEC’s lawyer maintained that governorship and presidential elections were not determined by margin of lead, but by spread of votes, in line with the provision of Section 179 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
Likewise, governor Abiodun’s counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, urged the apex court to dismiss the appeal and affirm the return of his client as the authentic winner of the election.
Nasarawa
In Nasarawa, the Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeal judgement that voided the nullification of the election of Governor Sule.
The apex court upheld the declaration of of Sule of the APC as winner of the governorship election that held in the state.
In its lead judgement that was delivered by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, the court dismissed as lacking in merit, the appeal that was filed by the PDP and its candidate, David Ombugadu.
The Nasarawa State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal had in a two-to-one split judgement it delivered on October 2, 2023, nullified governor Sule’s election and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to issue a fresh Certificate of Return to the PDP candidate.
The tribunal held that it was satisfied that governor Sule was a beneficiary of over-voting that occured in several polling units in the state.
However, following an appeal that was lodged by the governor and his party, the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, on November 23, reversed his sack and vacated the decision of the tribunal.
The appellate court held that the tribunal erred in law when it concluded that governor Sule did not win the majority of lawful votes that were cast in the election.
The court maintained that the record before it established that the tribunal relied on legally inadmissible evidence to declare the PDP candidate of as the valid winner of the governorship contest.
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, 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.
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 12 remaining witnesses that testified for the PDP candidate were not sufficient to sustain the judgement of the tribunal.
More so, 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 occured in four polling units.
It held that the tribunal was wrong in its decision since the petitioners did not provide 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 winner of the election.
Consequently, the court vacated the order of the tribunal that directed INEC to withdraw the Certificate of Return that was issued to governor Sule and to issue a fresh one to Ombugadu of the PDP.
However, dissatisfied with the judgement of the appellate court, the PDP and its candidate approached the Supreme Court, where they lost their case on Friday.
Gombe
In Gombe, the Supreme Court declined to nullify the election of governor Yahaya of the APC, even as it dismissed an appeal the PDP and its candidate, Mohammed Barde, filed to challenge the outcome of the governorship election that held in the state.
The apex court, in its lead judgement that was delivered by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, upheld the concurrent verdict of the Court of Appeal and Gombe State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which held that the case the Appellants raised against the election, lacked merit.
The court held that judgements of the lower courts have not been found to be perverse to warrant them to be set aside.
The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal had on November 23, 2023, dismissed the appeal.
The appellate court aligned itself with the position of the tribunal which threw out PDP’s contention that governor Yahaya was not qualified to contest the election.
It equally dismissed allegation by the Appellants that the election was not only marred by irregularities, but was also not conducted in substantial compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.
The tribunal had maintained that the petitioners failed to by way of credible evidence, establish their allegations which it described as nebulous, lacking in particularity, baseless and an academic exercise.
While upholding the verdict of the tribunal, the appellate court held that evidence before it proved that governor Yahaya of the APC secured majority of valid votes to win the election.
Kebbi State
Concerning the gubernatorial poll dispute in Kebbi state, the Supreme Court held that it found no reason to sack governor Idris of the APC.
It dismissed an appeal that was brought before it by the PDP and its candidate, Aminu Bande.
In the lead judgement that was delivered by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, the apex court authenticated the concurrent verdicts of the Court of Appeal and the Kebbi State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, which confirmed Nasir’s victory at the poll.
It will be recalled that INEC had declared the Kebbi State governorship election inconclusive owing to massive vote cancellation and over voting in 20 of the 21 LGAs in the state.
The Commission subsequently conducted a supplementary election on April 15, at the end of which it declared that governor Idris of the APC polled 409,225 votes to beat Bande of the PDP who got 360,940 votes.
However, dissatisfied with the outcome of the election, the PDP and its candidate approached the tribunal to challenge the result.
In its judgement, the Justice Ofem Ofem led tribunal dismissed the petition as lacking in merit.
The decision of the tribunal was affirmed by the Court of Appeal which held that the Appellants failed to establish all the allegations they raised in their petition.
The court stressed that the allegation of forgery levelled against the Deputy Governor of the state, Abubakar Tafida, was not proved as required by the law.
It further held that the issues of non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act in the conduct of the election could not stand since the Appellants failed to show how it substantially affected the outcome of the poll.
Kaduna
The last judgement the court delivered on Friday affirmed the election victory of governor Sani of Kaduna state.
A five-member panel of the apex court, in a unanimous decision, held that there was no merit in an appeal the PDP and its candidate, Mohammed Ashiru, filed to nullify the outcome of the last governorship election in the state.
In the lead judgement that was delivered by Justice Tijjani Abubakar, the apex court held that the petition the PDP and its candidate filed to challenge governor Sani’s election, was incompetent.
It held that since the originating petition was incompetent, no relief could be granted to the Appellants in the matter.
Consequently, the apex court upheld the earlier judgement of the Court of Appeal which dismissed the case for being devoid of merit.
”The appeal is frivolous, vexatious and irritating. It therefore deserves to be dismissed and it is hereby dismissed,” Justice Abubakar held.
INEC had declared that governor Sani, who was the candidate of the APC, garnered a total of 730, 001 votes to defeat the PDP candidate, Ashiru, who polled 719, 196 votes.
However, dissatisfied with the result of the election, the PDP and its candidate approached the tribunal to challenge it.
The Petitioners alleged that governor Uba was not duly elected by majority of valid votes cast in the election, adding that the election was invalid by reason of corrupt practices and non compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.
They alleged that some polling unit results were wrongfully cancelled, insisting that there were inconsistencies in accreditation records from INEC.
Meanwhile, the tribunal, in a two-to-one split judgement it delivered on September 28, dismissed the petition on technical ground and upheld Sani’s election victory.
The Justice Victor Oviawie-led tribunal, in its majority decision, said it deemed the petition abandoned, noting that the PDP and its candidate did not file their pre-hearing application within the time prescribed by the law.
Even though the tribunal dismissed the petition as abandoned, it, however, held that if it was to determine the case on its merit, it would have ordered INEC to conduct a supplementary election in 22 polling units in the state, within 90 days.
More so, the tribunal, in its alternative decision, found merit in the case of the Petitioners relating to the margin of win between the two leading candidates.
It noted that the difference between votes that were credited to the APC and PDP candidates, were about 10, 806 votes, while total number of votes in areas were results of the election were cancelled, were about 16, 423 votes.
It held that results of supplementary election in the affected polling units were capable of substantially affecting the overall outcome of the governorship election.
In its own judgement on November 24, 2023, the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal affirmed governor Sani’s election victory.
The court, in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel of Justices, dismissed the appeal by the PDP and its candidate, Ashiru.
In its lead judgement that was delivered by Justice Obietonbara Daniel-Kalio, the court upheld the verdict of the tribunal.
It held that the tribunal was right in its majority decision, when it declared the petition by the PDP and its candidate as abandoned.
According to the appellate court, records before it 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.
Noting that the law provided that such application must be filed seven days after the close of pleadings by the parties, the court waved aside the argument of the Appellants that they acted “out of the abundance of caution.”
It held that vigilance in prosecuting a matter could not be equated with jumping the gun, adding that one of the essential elements for the exercise of jurisdiction by a court “is that a case must be initiated by due process of the law.”
Besides, the court maintained that statements on oath that were made by most of the witnesses that testified for the Appellants were invalid as they were not filed alongside the petition.
It held that the failure to frontload statements of the witnesses within the 21-day period prescribed for filing of the petition, rendered them legally incompetent.
The appellate court held that most of the witnesses who testified for the petitioners gave hearsay evidence.
The court said it was satisfied that the tribunal properly evaluated the evidence that were adduced before it by the parties and accorded probative value to them.
It resolved all the five issues that were raised in the appeal, against the Appellants.
While deciding a Cross-Appeal that was filed by governor Sani, the appellate court voided the minority decision of the tribunal, which ordered INEC to conduct a fresh poll in 22 polling units within four Local Government Areas in the state.
The court held that the judge that gave the dissenting verdict relied on documents with discrepancies as well as hearsay evidence from discredited witnesses, to declare the governorship election as inconclusive.
Meantime, with the judgements on Friday, only four states that took part in the March 2023 governorship election still have their cases pending. The states are; Rivers, Adawawa, Taraba and Sokoto.