Respite came the way of eight Governors on Friday, as the Supreme Court, in a marathon judgement, affirmed their election victory.
In a marathon judgement that lasted over seven hours, the apex court, decided various appeals that trailed the outcome of governorship elections that held in the states on March 18, 2023.
Major beneficiaries of the judgement day were the governors of Kano and Plateau states, Abba Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, and Caleb Muftwang of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, respectively, whose elections were nullified by the Court of Appeal but reversed by the Supreme Court.
Though each case was decided by a five-member panel, however, in an unprecedented development, eight Justices of the apex court sat till all the appeals were determined.
The first appeal the court settled was the governorship dispute in Lagos State.
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court validated the re-election of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who was the flag-bearer of the All Progressives Congress, APC, even as it dismissed two separate appeals that were lodged by candidates of the Labour Party, LP, Mr. Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour and that of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Abdulazeez Adediran, popularly known as Jandor.
The LP and its candidate had prayed the court to determine whether Sanwo-Olu was qualified to contest the election, considering that his deputy and running mate, Obafemi Hamzat, has dual citizenship.
The appellants alleged that the Lagos State deputy governor took the citizenship of the United States of America, USA.
They argued that since the deputy governor, by his action, was constitutionally ineligible to contest the election, it invalidated Sanwo-Olu’s candidacy at the election.
In its lead judgement that was delivered by Justice Mohammed Garba Lawal, the Supreme Court said there was no evidence that Sanwo-Olu’s deputy denounced his Nigerian citizenship.
It held that the prohibitions in section 28 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, does not apply to a person that is a Nigerian citizen by birth.
According to the Supreme Court, there is no law stripping a Nigerian citizen by birth, from enjoying his status, rights and privileges, owing to the acquisition of the citizenship of another country through naturalization.
The apex court held that Hamzat’s declaration of allegiance to the USA was not legally sufficient to strip him of the right to contest an election in Nigeria.
It said the appellate court was right when it affirmed the judgement of the tribunal which held that Sanwo-Olu and his deputy were not constitutionally disqualified from contesting the governorship poll.
Likewise, the court dismissed the appeal by PDP candidate, Adediran, noting that some of the issues he raised in his case were already statute-barred.
Justice Adamu Jauro, who delivered the lead judgement in his matter, upheld a preliminary objection the Respondents raised to challenge the competence of the appeal.
He held that since Adediran’s case bordered on the eligibility of Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, the trial tribunal, lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
The Appellants had insisted that they were denied fair hearing by the lower courts, adding that part of their case was that the deputy governor tendered a forged West African Examination Council, WAEC, certificate to INEC, in aid of his qualification to contest the election.
They alleged that a master list that WAEC was subpoenaed to produce before the tribunal, showed that the name on the certificate the deputy governor tendered to INEC, was different.
While dismissing the appeals, a member of the apex court panel, Justice Emmanuel Agim, described both Rhodes-Vivour and Adediran’s cases as “meaningless disputations”.
He held that the case the LP candidate instituted to challenge Sanwo-Olu’s election was based on the wrong interpretation of both sections 182(1)(a) and 28(1) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, saying it amounted to a gross abuse of the court process.
Shortly after Lagos, the Supreme Court, upheld the election of Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State.
In its lead judgement, delivered by Justice Ibrahim Saulawa, the court dismissed an appeal the APC and its candidate, Sadique Abubakar, filed to challenge the outcome of the governorship election that held in the state.
Abubakar and his party had contended that Governor Mohammed, who was the candidate of the PDP, was not the valid winner of the gubernatorial contest.
They alleged that the election was not conducted in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act 2022, insisting that several electoral documents that were used during the poll, were not properly filled.
However, both the Bauchi State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal and the Court of Appeal in Jos, dismissed Abubakar’s case and upheld Governor Mohammed’s election victory.
Dissatisfied with the concurrent verdicts of the two lower courts, the APC candidate lodged an appeal before the Supreme Court, contending that his case vis-a-vis the exhibits that were tendered in evidence by the parties, were not properly evaluated by the tribunal.
While dismissing the appeal on Friday for want of merit, the apex court said it found no reason to dislodge the judgements of the lower courts.
It resolved all the issues that were formulated by the appellants, against them.
On the Kano governorship dispute, the Supreme Court reversed the judgement that sacked governor Yusuf of the NNPP.
It vacated the concurrent judgements of the Kano State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal and the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which sacked governor Yusuf and declared Nasiru Gawuna of the APC as winner of the gubernatorial poll.
In the lead judgement that was delivered by Justice Inyang Okoro, the Supreme Court held that the two lower courts wrongly deducted valid votes that were credited to governor Yusuf by INEC.
It held that the 165,663 votes that were deducted from Yusuf and the NNPP on the premise that the ballot papers were not signed, stamped or dated, were valid.
The court held that contrary to the position of the lower courts, a total of 146, 292 of the ballot papers were confirmed to have been signed and stamped, only that they did not contain a date.
It held that by section 63(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, ballot papers, which bore the official mark and were duly issued by INEC, were valid documents.
Besides, the court held that there was no evidence that Governor Yusuf influenced the non-signing of the said ballot papers.
More so, it faulted the lower courts for nullifying Yusuf’s election on the premise that he was not a member of the NNPP.
It held that the issue of sponsorship of a candidate in an election was within the domestic affairs of a political party, which no court was allowed to interfere in.
The apex court held that Yusuf won the governorship election by a majority of lawful votes and was duly nominated by his political party.
It will be recalled that the three-member panel tribunal, led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan-Osadebay, held that some ballot papers that were relied upon to declare Yusuf as winner of the gubernatorial contest, were neither signed nor stamped by the INEC.
It proceeded to declare 165,663 of the votes credited to the NNPP candidate as invalid.
Following the deduction of the said invalid votes, Yusuf, who was initially declared winner of the governorship poll with a total of 1,019,602 votes, had his tally reduced to 853, 939 votes.
With the development, his closest rival and candidate of the APC, Ganuwa, emerged the winner of the election with 890,705 votes.
Dissatisfied with the judgement, Governor Yusuf approached the Court of Appeal, which on November 17, upheld the verdict of the tribunal and awarded N1 million cost against him.
Meantime, before it concluded its judgement on Friday, the Supreme Court, descended heavily on both the tribunal and the appellate court.
It noted that the lower courts delved into issues they had no jurisdiction over and made adverse pronouncements that raised tension in Kano state.
The apex court equally berated the appellate court over the clerical error it made in the certified copy of its judgement, which contradicted what it delivered in the open court.
“Judges should be more meticulous in doing their job, no matter the pressure, this is to avoid the mess that happened at the court below,” the head of the apex court panel, Justice Okoro added.
In the governorship dispute in Zamfara state, the court held that it was satisfied that the contest was won by Governor Dauda Lawal of the PDP.
It vacated the November 16, 2023 judgement of the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, which declared the governorship election as inconclusive.
The court held that Lawal secured the majority of lawful votes and was rightly declared the winner of the poll by INEC.
In the lead judgement that was delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the apex court, described the verdict of the appellate court as “perverse”.
It restored the earlier decision of the Zamfara State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, which affirmed Lawal’s election victory.
INEC had declared that Governor Lawal polled a total of 377,726 votes to defeat the immediate past governor of the state and current Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, who scored 311,976 votes.
The declaration by INEC was on September 18, 2023, affirmed by the tribunal which held that Matawalle, who was the candidate of the APC, failed to establish his allegation that some polling unit results were excluded by the electoral body.
The tribunal further held that Matawalle and his party failed to prove their claim that INEC did not comply with electoral rules while conducting the election, even as it awarded a cost of N500,000 against the Appellants.
However, the appellate court voided the judgement of the tribunal and declared the Zamfara state governorship election as inconclusive.
The appellate court ordered INEC to conduct a fresh election in three Local Government Areas, LGAs, of the state where election results were either not counted or unlawfully cancelled.
Specifically, while the appellate court ordered a fresh poll in the entire Maradun LGA of the state, it directed INEC to hold elections in some polling units in Birnin-Magaji and Bukyum LGAs.
The appellate court held that the tribunal wrongly evaluated the evidence that was presented before it by the parties.
It held that INEC acted wrongly, when it relied on information it obtained from its IReV portal to collate the final result of the governorship election.
According to the court, the IReV was only meant for the benefit of the public and not to serve as an election result collation platform.
Besides, the appellate court stressed that going by the margin of lead principle, INEC, ought not have made a return in the election, considering the existence of over 98, 904 votes in the three affected LGAs.
It held that the Appellant, Matawalle, successfully discharged the burden of proof that was placed on him by the law to warrant the invalidation of the declaration of governor Lawal as the bonafide winner of the gubernatorial election.
“The 1st Respondent was not duly elected by majority of lawful votes. His return was not in compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act,” the appellate court held.
However, in its judgement on Friday, the Supreme Court vacated the Court of Appeal decision for being perverse and against the weight of evidence.
In the case of Ebonyi state, the Supreme Court affirmed the election victory of Governor Francis Nwifuru.
The court, in its lead judgement that was delivered by Justice Tijjani Abubakar, dismissed two separate appeals that were lodged by candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Ifeanyi Odii, as well as his counterpart from the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Prof. Benard Odoh.
It held that the appeals were “patently unmeritorious.”
INEC, had declared that Nwifuru polled a total of 199,131 votes across the 13 Local Government Areas of the state to beat his closest rival, Dr. Odii of the PDP who scored 80,191 votes.
Dissatisfied with the outcome of the poll, both candidates of the PDP and APGA, approached the tribunal to challenge the outcome of the election.
The petitioners, among other things, sought Nwifuru’s disqualification on the grounds of certificate forgery and his alleged ineligibility to stand for the election.
The petitioners told the tribunal that Nwifuru’s election victory was characterized by corrupt practices, alleging that there was substantial non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.
Besides, they argued that Nwifuru did not validly resign from the PDP before he was nominated as the governorship candidate of the APC.
According the petitioners, Nwifuru, being a PDP member at all material times before the governorship poll, was not eligible under section 177(c) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, to have been sponsored by the APC to contest as its flag-bearer.
They told the tribunal that before the governorship contest, Nwifuru, who was elected into the Ebonyi State House of Assembly in 1999, served as Speaker while on the ticket of the PDP, until May 2023.
They argued that Nwifuru was at the time of the election, still a member of the PDP and as such was not eligible to be sponsored for the election by the APC.
Consequently, PDP and its candidate prayed the tribunal to declare that they were the valid winners of the governorship election.
They further prayed the court to withdraw the Certificate of Return that was issued to governor Nwifuru by INEC and issue a fresh one to Dr. Odii.
Likewise, APGA and its candidate, Odoh, prayed the tribunal to nullify the election and order a fresh one.
However, the tribunal, on September 27, 2023, dismissed all the petitions as lacking in merit.
According to the tribunal, the petitioners failed to establish their allegations that the APC candidate did not secure the majority of lawful votes that were cast at the election.
It held that the petitioners lacked the locus standi to challenge the nomination of governor Nwifuru by the APC to contest the election.
The tribunal added that the petitioners failed to produce evidence and details of polling units were the alleged infractions occurred.
The judgement of the tribunal was subsequently upheld by the Court of Appeal, a development that led to the appeals the Supreme Court dismissed on Friday.
Another major judgement the apex court gave on Friday was on the governorship dispute in Plateau State.
The apex court reversed the judgement that sacked Governor Muftwang of the PDP and declared the candidate of the APC, Mr. Nentawe Goshwe, as the valid winner of the governorship contest.
While affirming the return of Muftwang as the winner of the election, the Supreme Court, said it was not in dispute that he was sponsored for the election by the PDP, adding that the validity of his nomination was not a ground that could be challenged at an election petition tribunal.
In the lead judgement that was delivered by Justice Agim, the panel held that the appellate court lacked the jurisdiction to determine the validity or otherwise of the primary election that produced Muftwang as a candidate in the election.
It held that the issue of Muftwang’s nomination had become statute-barred since the 21 days allowed for his candidacy to be challenged at the high court, had since elapsed.
Besides, the Supreme Court, which stressed that the appellate court made a fundamental error, held that the APC and its candidate lacked the locus standi to challenge Muftwang’s candidacy.
It held that under section 84(18) of the Electoral Act 2022, only PDP members that participated in its primary election, could challenge the outcome in court.
It held that the APC lacked the right to challenge a nomination that was made by another political party.
“The whole case is a thorough abuse of the court process,” the apex court held.
“The legal profession should wake up or it will render itself irrelevant in the eyes of the people with this type of judgement from the Appeal Court,” Justice Agim warned.
It will be recalled that the appellate court had in the judgement it delivered on November 19, held that governor Mutfwang was not validly nominated and sponsored by the PDP.
It held that all the votes that were credited to him and the PDP after the election amounted to wasted votes.
Consequently, the appellate court panel, led by Justice Elfrieda Williams-Dawodu, ordered the INEC to withdraw the Certificate of Return that it issued to Mutfwang and issue a fresh one to the APC candidate, Goshwe whom it held scored the second majority lawful votes at the election.
INEC had declared that Mutfwang of the PDP won the gubernatorial contest with a total of 525,299 votes, ahead of Goshwe who polled 481,370 votes.
In Abia State, the Supreme Court held that Governor Alex Otti of the LP was validly elected, just as it dismissed two separate appeals that sought to nullify his victory.
In its lead judgement that was read by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, the apex court held that the appeal the candidate of the PDP, Chief Okey Ahiwe and his counterpart in the APC, Chief Ikechi Emenike, brought before it, lacked merit.
It held that there was no legal basis to tamper with the concurrent findings of the Abia State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, which upheld Otti’s election.
According to the apex court, argument of the appellants that Otti was not a bonafide member of the LP as at the time the governorship election held, was immaterial in the face of section 177(c) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
It held that since Otti did not stand the election as an independent candidate, there was no doubt that he was nominated and sponsored by a political party.
The court waved aside the contention that Otti’s name was not in the membership list the law mandated the LP to submit to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, at least 30 days before it held its governorship primary election.
The Supreme Court held that even if Otti’s name was not in the said membership list, the PDP and its candidate lacked the locus standi to challenge the matter in court as doing so would amount to “crying more than the bereaved.”
It held that issues bordering on the nomination and sponsorship of a candidate in an election was a domestic affair of a political party which the law forbade courts from meddling into.
The court held that the appeals contained issues that pre-dated the governorship election, which had become statute-barred.
Besides, the court described as “vexatious”, the appeal the APC candidate, Emenike, who scored only 24, 000 votes, brought to be declared winner of the governorship election.
“This can only happen on a comedy stage,” Justice Abba-Aji held.
“This is one of the appeals that should not come here,” head of the panel, Justice Inyang Okoro added.
INEC had declared that Otti polled 175,466 votes to defeat his closest rival, Ahiwe of the PDP who scored 88,529 votes.
Dissatisfied with the outcome of the election, both Ahiwe and Emenike approached the tribunal, insisting that the LP candidate was not validly elected by a majority of valid votes cast at the election.
They further challenged his eligibility to contest the election.
The petitions were dismissed by the tribunal and the appellate court, a decision the Supreme Court affirmed on Friday.
The last case that was determined by the court was on the governorship election dispute in Cross River State, which was decided in favour of Governor Bassey Otu of the APC.
In its lead judgement that was delivered by Justice Helen Ogunwumiju, the apex court dismissed an appeal the PDP and its candidate, Prof. Sandy Onor, filed to challenge the return of Otu as the winner of the governorship poll.
The apex court held that the appeal was without merit and amounted to a waste of judicial time.
It stressed that the appellants failed to establish their claim that Governor Otu was bereft of the requisite educational qualifications.
The apex court held that the appeal contained pre-election issues that had become statute-barred.
“The court will not subvert the wish of the people on inconsequential issues that are against the settled principles of law,” Justice Ogunwumiju held.
INEC had declared that Governor Otu polled 258,619 votes to defeat the PDP candidate, Onor, who scored 179,636.
However, dissatisfied with the outcome of the poll, the PDP and its candidate filed a petition to nullify it.
The petitioners, among other things, alleged that Governor Otu was not educated up to school certificate level, insisting that there were discrepancies in the certificate he submitted to INEC. In a judgement it delivered on September 26, 2023, the Cross River State Governorship Election Tribunal dismissed the case.
The verdict was upheld by the Court of Appeal, which affirmed Otu’s election victory.
While affirming the concurrent verdicts of the lower court, the Supreme Court noted that it was not the case of the appellants that governor Otu forged his certificates. The apex court wondered why the appellants would allege that Otu, who is a university graduate that had served as both a member of the House of Representatives and a Senator, was not qualified for the governorship poll.
Meanwhile, there was heavy security presence at the apex court, as security operatives cordoned off all the access routes to the court.
Supporters of the parties were blocked from getting close to the vicinity of the court which is situated within the restricted three-arm-zone.
Only lawyers whose names were on lists that were held by security agents were allowed to enter the court premises.
Likewise, only accredited journalists were granted access to court, with everyone scanned and properly searched.
Among governors that were in court to witness the proceedings on Friday, were those of Bauchi, Kano, Plateau and Zamfara states.
Credit: Vanguard News Nigeria