The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the various appeals challenging the elections of governors Abubakar Bello of Niger State, Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, and Darius Ishiaku of Taraba State.
A seven-man panel of the apex court, in separate judgments upheld the victories of the governors at the March 9, 2019 elections held in their various states.
While Bello is of the All Progressives Congress, Okowa, Ikpeazu and Ishiaku are of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Dismissing the appeal filed by the All Progressives Grand Alliance’s governorship candidate in Abia State, Dr Alex Otti, against Ikpeazu’s election, the apex court’s panel, led by Justice Olabode Rhodes-Vivour, unanimously held that the appellant did not establish his allegation of over voting.
According to Justice Paul Galinje, who delivered the lead judgment of the apex court, Otti failed to tender crucial documents that could have helped his case.
He ruled, “The law is clear that the petitioner must tender the voter registers and relate the documents to the specific polling units.
“However, in this case the appellant has not done so; he merely dumped forms EC8A and EC8B before the court, but did not call any witness to prove the allegations of over voting.”
He added that the card reader printout tendered by the appellant was not the yardstick for proving over voting, adding that relying on the card reader was detrimental to the case.
Justice Galinje held that the two lower courts – the Court of Appeal and the Abia State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal – were right to dismiss the case.
In upholding the election of Governor Darius Ishiaku of Taraba State, Justice Ejembi Eko, who read the lead judgment of the apex court, held that the APC’s legal team admitted that the party had no candidate in the election after its original candidate was disqualified.
Therefore, he held that the APC had no locus standi to contest the governorship election.
Justice Eko noted that the law was clear on the issue of disqualification of a candidate, adding that the substitute sought to be presented by the APC did not participate in the election.
He added that all the votes cast for the APC in the election were wasted.
Describing the petition filed by the party as a mere academic exercise, the apex court made an order dismissing it.
In upholding Okowa’s election as the Delta State governor, Justice Centus Nweze, who read the lead judgment, held that the appellant, Great Ogboru of the APC failed to prove allegations of over voting.
Justice Nweze held that the appeal was a waste of the precious time of the apex court.
The Supreme Court also affirmed the election of Governor Abubakar Bello of Niger State, after dismissing the appeal by Mohammed Nasko of the PDP.
In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, the apex court held that the Niger State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal had failed to deliver judgment on the petition filed by Nasko and the PDP within the 180 days as required by law.
She ruled that the petition and the appeal pending before the Court of Appeal in respect of the electoral dispute had become academic.
The Supreme Court had on December 12, 2019, affirmed the elections of governors Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, Oluseyi Makinde of Oyo State, Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State, David Umahi of Ebonyi State, Aminu Masari of Katsina State, Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State and Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State.
In his reaction, Ikpeazu said he had been challenged to do more for Abians.
He pledged to deliver on the mandate freely given to him by Abia people as well as acquit himself creditably on the job.
The governor, who thanked the Judiciary for being the last hope of the common man, lauded the reforms in the judiciary which brought about the speedy delivery of the Supreme Court judgment and expressed gratitude to the judiciary for reaffirming his electoral victory at the Supreme Court.
He called on Otti to feel free to contribute his quota to the development of the state.
He said, “I say to him, if he has anything whatsoever to contribute to the development of Abia, time is rife now for him to make those contributions and make sure that his name also would join the names of other great names in Abia on the golden pages of Abia.”
Also, the Delta State APC urged Okowa to “be governor for all Deltans.”
The APC in a statement signed by its state Publicity Secretary, Ogheneluemu Imonina, called on the party faithful in the state to unite to strengthen the APC for future elections.
“The All Progressives Congress in Delta State received with shock, the judgment of the Supreme Court in respect of the 2019 gubernatorial election in the state.
“Though, the judgment is final as far as the governorship election is concerned, we believe that the learned Justices of the Supreme Court are not infallible.
“In the spirit of good sportsmanship and for the sake of the good of Delta State, the APC congratulates Senator Ifeanyi Okowa on his victory.
“However, we want to state unequivocally that the APC, Delta State, as a responsible and responsive party will continue to point out the ills of the PDP-led government of Delta State whenever the need arises.
“The governor should know that he is a governor for all Deltans, not a particular section of the state or few persons. The needful should be done at all times in the area of employment and execution of quality and masses-oriented projects.
“As for all the APC faithful in Delta State and Deltans, we urge you not to lose hope in our quest for a better Delta State. This is the time to come together and make sure that all our shortcomings are corrected for our good and the good of all Deltans.”
Meanwhile, the PDP on Wednesday hailed the Supreme Court over its verdicts, upholding the elections of Ikpeazu, Okowa and Ishaku.
The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement said the rulings were inevitable validations of the wishes and aspirations of the people as expressed in the March 2019 governorship elections in the affected states.
He stated that the rulings of the apex court were victories for democracy and the triumph of the people over forces that allegedly sought to forcefully take over control of their states.
Ologbondiyan, therefore, urged the governors to continue in their acclaimed qualitative governance for which the people overwhelmingly re-elected them.
He reminded the governors as well as all other officials elected and appointed on the platform of the party that Nigerians across board were looking up to them for solution and direction in their overall effort to rescue the nation from the alleged misrule of the APC.
