Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court, Abuja yesterday declined jurisdiction over the five suits filed in relation to the dispute arising from the inconclusive governorship election in Kogi State.
The judge, in two judgments he delivered, dismissed the suits by the state governor, Idris Wada and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the running mate to Abubakar Audu, the deceased governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), James Faleke, and three others, on the ground that his court lacked the jurisdiction to determine the issues raised.
Justice Kolawole said the issues raised were election related and had crossed the “threshold” of matters on which the court could exercise jurisdiction because the election results in most of the polling units had been declared.
He added that the suits qualified as a post-election dispute that could only be entertained by the election petition tribunal which would be set up by the President of the Court of Appeal in line with section285(2) of the Constitution.
The judge said he refrained from looking at the merit of the cases to enable parties re-argued the issues involved at the election petition tribunal.
By implication, the supplementary election scheduled for the state tomorrow, by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), is unhindered, because the suits had, among others, sought to restrain INEC from proceeding with the supplementary election.
The first was on four consolidated suits filed by Wada, Emanuel Daiko, who claimed to have contested the election as a candidate of the People for Democratic Change (PDC); Raphael Igbokwe (a PDP member of the House of Representatives from Imo State) and Stephen Wada Omaye and a Johnson Jacob Usman (who claimed to be an indigene of the state, a registered voter and a lawyer.
The second judgment was on the suit by Faleke. Wada had, in the main, urged the court to compel INEC to declare him winner of the election, on the ground that he is the only surviving candidate in the election who scored the second highest votes after the deceased candidate of the APC.
Faleke, on his part, faulted the decision by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare the election inconclusive; asked the court to among others compel INEC to declare his joint ticket with the late Abubakar Audu winner of the election and to restrain it (INEC) from proceeding with its planned supplementary election.
In dismissing the suits, the judge upheld arguments by lawyers to INEC (first defendant) and the Attorney-General of the Federation (second defendant), Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN) and T. A Gazali, to the effect that the court was without the requisite jurisdiction to determine the cases, which border on the outcome of an election already held.
It was also their argument that it was within the INEC’s powers to conduct the supplementary election.
The judge held that all the suits, being similar except in their “styles of presentation”, were rooted in events which had crossed “the threshold mark” of cases which the Federal High Court could accommodate under its jurisdiction specified under section 87(10) of the Electoral Act.
“By this, the event of the election held on November 21, 2015 was not within the contemplation of the said provision and because substantial results were already released and announced, the electoral process, in my view, has crossed the threshold mark of an event in which only the governorship election tribunal as will be constituted by the President of the Court of Appeal pursuant to section 285(2) of the Constitution can entertain,” Justice Kolawole said.
He added that since his court lacked the power to grant the prayers sought by the plaintiffs, it would amount to “idle judicial indulgence” for it to go ahead to evoke its interpretative jurisdiction of the law under section 251 (1)(ii) of the Constitution.
The judge further held that his judgment did not affirm the validity or correctness of INEC’s decision to declare the November 21 election inconclusive and to hold a supplementary election.
He said issues raised in the suits, having not been decided on its merit, could be re-argued at the election petition tribunal after the conclusion of the election and the winner declared by INEC.
“The interpretation of the provision of the Constitution cannot be an exercise the court will entertain in vacuum but must relate to a controversy which the provision of the Constitution are to be interpreted are meant to resolve and or determine
“When I pondered over and over each of the reliefs being sought, even in the broad sense into which they have been compartmentalised, the conclusion which I have reached is not that I have, by any stretch of the construction of any of the provisions of the laws cited by counsel, affirmed the correctness of the decision of the first defendant (INEC) to declare the election held on November 21, 2015 as inconclusive and or to affirm the validity of the supplementary election that is scheduled for December 5, 2015.
“These are legitimate issues which this court would be entitled to resolve were it that I have jurisdiction to grant the reliefs, perhaps the principal reliefs being sought in all of the four suits which were tagged as consolidated suits on December 3, 2015.
“To proceed to affirm or otherwise the first defendant’s decision by which the election was declared inconclusive and to hold the supplementary election will be nothing short of exercising jurisdiction which I don’t seem to have. The jurisdiction which this court has exercises is as provided for in section 87 (10) of the Electoral Act supra,” Justice Kolawole said.
While the court proceedings lasted, supporters of both Wada and Faleke, who bore placards and banners with various messages of support for their preferred candidate, danced and sang right in front of the court’s entrance.
Some sat close to the entrance, smoking cigarette and drinking alcohol. Men of the Nigeria Police Force, kept watch all through.
On learning about the court’s pronouncement, the dejected supporters stopped their activities and departed quietly.
