….as Diri, Ododo seek dismissal of appeals by Sylva, Ajaka

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

The Supreme Court, on Monday, reserved its judgement on separate appeals that are seeking to nullify results of the last governorship elections in Bayelsa and Kogi States.

A five-man panel of the apex court led by Justice Garba Lawal, adjourned to deliver judgements on the appeals, after all the parties adopted their final briefs of argument.

While the appeal seeking to invalidate the election of Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State, was filed by candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the gubernatorial poll that held in the state on November 11, 2023, Chief Timipre Sylva, the appeal against Governor Usman Ododo of Kogi State was filed by the Social Democratic Party, SDP, and its candidate, Muritala Ajaka.

While adopting his brief of argument, governor Diri, through his team of lawyers led by Chief Chris Uche, SAN, urged the apex court to dismiss Sylva’s appeal which he insisted was bereft of merit.

Both the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, represented by Chief Charles Edoshomwan, SAN, and counsel for the PDP, Mr. Tayo Oyetibo, SAN, also prayed for the appeal to be dismissed.

However, Sylva’s legal team, led by Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, urged the court to set aside the concurrent verdicts of both the Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, which validated governor Diri’s election.

INEC had declared that governor Diri of the PDP garnered a total of 175, 196 votes to defeat his closest rival, Sylva of the APC who polled 110, 108 votes.

Dissatisfied with the outcome of the election, Sylva, who served as governor of the state from 2008 to 2012, and the immediate past Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, approached the tribunal, alleging that results of the election in three Local Government Areas, LGAs, were wrongly excluded by INEC.

He told the tribunal that whereas election held in Southern Ijaw, Ogbia and Nembe LGAs, however, the electoral body voided polling unit results that were forwarded for collation.

Sylva insisted that contrary to INEC’s position that election did not hold in the affected LGAs, its officials supervised the election and sent results from the various polling units to the collation center.

According to him, had it been that results from the three LGAs, which he described as his strongholds, were included, he would have won the gubernatorial contest.

Arguing that governor Diri did not secure the highest number of valid votes cast at the election, Sylva insisted that the election was invalid by reason of non compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act.

It was equally his position that governor Diri and his deputy were not qualified at the time the election was held.

He prayed the tribunal to nullify the Certificate of Return that was issued to governor Diri by INEC.

However, his case was dismissed by both the tribunal and the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal which ordered him to pay a fine of N500, 000 to each of the Respondents in the matter.

In the Kogi governorship dispute, SDP’s candidate, Ajaka, prayed the Supreme Court to upturn verdicts of both the tribunal and the appellate court, which dismissed his petition against governor Ododo.

INEC had announced that Ododo polled a total of 446,237 votes to defeat Ajaka who came second with 259,052 votes.

Not happy with the result, Ajaka approached the tribunal to void the Certificate of Return that was issued to the APC candidate, Ododo, and to order a fresh election in about five Local Government Areas in the state.

Ajaka, who called a total of 25 witnesses, equally accused the APC candidate of tendering forged documents to INEC.

He alleged that there was over voting in five LGAs, including Adavi, Okene and Okehi.

However, in its judgement, the tribunal faulted the competence of the case, noting that statements of the witnesses were not filed alongside the petition as required by the law.

It, therefore, expunged all the evidence that were laid through the witnesses, stressing that some of them were hearsay evidence.

The tribunal further noted that the petitioners failed to produce polling unit agents to establish that there were irregularities.

It held that allegation forgery, being criminal in nature, ought to be proved beyond every reasonable doubt.

It dsmissed the petition and affirmed governor Ododo’s election victory, a judgement the appellate court upheld.

Before it reserved the appeal for judgement, the Supreme Court turned down an application the Appellant filed for a full panel of seven Justices to be constituted yo hear his case.

The Justice Garba-led panel said it would communicate the judgement date to all the parties.