The Appeal Court in Abuja has upheld the nullification of Senatorial election of Dino Melaye as senator representing Kogi West in the senate. KEHINDE OSASONA in this piece looks at the scenario
The Verdict
A three-man panel of the Court of Appeal in a judgment delivered last week upheld the decision of the Kogi State National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal which nullified the election of Melaye on account of manifest electoral malpractices.
Melaye had approached the Court of Appeal praying it to set aside the majority judgment of the tribunal which nullified his victory in the February 23 senatorial election and ordered a fresh election within 90 days.
In the appeal, Melaye claimed that the tribunal erred in law when it reached a decision based on hearsay to nullify his election.
He therefore asked the appellate court to set aside the tribunal’s judgment and uphold his election as Senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District.
While delivering his judgment in the matter, the three-man panel of Justices of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Abubakar Datti Yahaya upheld the decision of the tribunal and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh election within 90 days.
In the unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Mohammed Idris, the appellate court held that the election was invalid due to fundamental error by INEC which in the result sheets fixed February 25 as date the senatorial election was conducted rather than February 23, the actual date the election held.
The arguments
Melaye had, through his lawyer, Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), urged the Appeal Court to set aside the decision of the tribunal because it was based on hearsay instead of polling units agents’ result and voter register.
The senior counsel drew the attention of the Justices to the fact that only three witnesses were called, adding that the evidence of the three witnesses based on hearsay cannot justify the cancellation of the senatorial election.
Ikpeazu further submitted that mutilation of result sheets was untenable, saying that final result of senatorial election was endorsed by agents of the candidates and the parties, and that the petitioners failed to establish that the alleged mutilated result substantially affected the final result collation.
Similarly the other appellants PDP and INEC had urged the court to set aside the majority judgment on the grounds that they were denied fair hearing and were not allowed to evaluate evidence adduced during the hearing.
According to the PDP, the tribunal erred in law when it based its claim of over voting on the number of collected permanent voter cards rather than voter register as required by law.
On its part the electoral body argued that finding of over voting by the tribunal was wrong and baseless because the voters’ register and result of election in 2015 tallied with the result in the disputed area.
The electoral body alleged that the tribunal did not evaluate the exhibits it tendered to prove that there was no over voting and pleaded that appeal be allowed.
However, Senator Adeyemi and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in their joint response pleaded with the appellate court to dismiss the three appeals because the appellants were not denied fair hearing and that the tribunal based its findings on over voting in the report of INEC which comprehensively contained the number of collected voter cards unit by unit.
Adeyemi and APC through their counsel, Adekunle Otitoju, argued that INEC breached an order of the Federal High Court which ordered that the senatorial election result must be collated and announced in Kabba, the senatorial district headquarters and not in Lokoja as done by the electoral body.
They alleged that while their agents were in Kabba waiting for the collation, the INEC officials and agents of the appellants allegedly colluded and secretly moved the result collation to Lokoja where the result sheets were allegedly mutilated to favour Melaye.
They insisted that mutilation of results, dated February 25 instead of February 23, was so apparent and that over voting was so established that the petitioners won with over 48,000 votes.
They therefore urged the Court of Appeal to dismiss the appeal and uphold the majority decision of the tribunal.
The tribunal had on August 23 nullified the election of Melaye on grounds of electoral malpractices and ordered a fresh election within 90 days.
It would be recalled that sometimes in August, Senator Dino Melaye described the ruling of the Kogi West election tribunal, nullifying his election victory in the March 22nd 2019, election and ordering for a fresh election as a total miscarriage of Justice.
In a statement personally signed by him, Dino said, “The judgment is full of importation of information that is alien to the case. I, however, commend the courage and moral strength of the chairman of the tribunal for resisting evil and standing on the part of justice.
“I have confidence in the Appeal Court to right the wrongs as contained in the pronouncements of the judgment. I also want to tell those jubilating that their jubilation will be short-lived while appealing to my teeming supporters to remain calm as their mandate is safe and secure and cannot be taken through any mischievous means.
“However, our legal team is already working to appeal the judgment and I assure all that justice will prevail.
Kogi gov celebrates judgment
Meanwhile, the Kogi state Governor Yahaya Bello was quoted as describing the tribunal judgment as victory for democracy and a demonstration of the readiness of the judiciary to defend democracy.
He said, “The people of Kogi West and the entire APC structure will be prepared for the election to right the wrongs of the past. We believe our candidate, Sen. Smart Adeyemi won the election and we are happy that the tribunal has finally granted us the justice we deserve.”
As Melaye, Adeyemi squares up again
Against the backdrop of recent development, it remained to be seen how Dino intends to meander his way back to the red chamber where he once held sway.
Although the senator is seen as a cat with nine lives by virtue of his political deftness, nevertheless as it were, the unfolding development in Kogi indicates that both Dino and his party PDP have two serious wars to contend with.
Also speaking, Smart Adeyemi, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Kogi West senatorial district election, said his party is not afraid of a rerun.
He said this while commending the judgment of the election petitions tribunal that sacked the lawmaker representing Kogi West, Senator Dino Melaye.
Justice Anthony Chijioke-led panel of the Kogi State election petitions tribunal had ordered a fresh election in the senatorial district. Senator Adeyemi noted that as a student of law, he had always believed that the court is where those who have been cheated get justice.
He insisted that he would reclaim his mandate in the rerun ordered by the tribunal, stressing that he has built the image to win the election over the years.
The two-time senator compared himself to Melaye who contested the election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He said, “We are not afraid to go for a rerun because the people can assess the two personalities. They know our antecedents, they know our track records, they know who we are and what we stand for.
