Senate confirms FIRS board, 7 years after dissolution – Newtelegraph

It was victory galore for eight governors as the Supreme Court, yesterday, upheld their elections in the March 9, 2019 governorship election.

While five governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) retained their seats, three governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came out victorious.

The apex court upheld the election of Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and consequently dismissed the appeal filed by Adebayo Adelabu of APC.

In a similar vein, the apex court dismissed the appeal filed by the candidate of the PDP in Katsina State, Yakubu Lado against the election of Governor Aminu Masari of the APC.

The Supreme Court also, in a unanimous decision, upheld the election of Governor Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom State and consequently threw out the appeal filed by Obong Nsima Ekere of the APC.

Also, the apex court dismissed the appeal filed by the candidate of the PDP in Kaduna State, Isah Mohammed Ashiru against the election of Governor Nasir el-Rufai.

In addition, the court upheld the election of Governors Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa), Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun) and David Umahi (Ebonyi).

The apex court, in unanimous judgements, held that the governors were lawfully elected as governors of their respective states.

In affirming Makinde’s election, the apex court agreed with the submissions of Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) that the majority judgement of the Court of Appeal which nullified the judgement of the Oyo State Election Petitions Tribunal was flawed.

In a four-to-one majority judgement, the Court of Appeal had voided the tribunal’s judgement on the grounds that the tribunal’s decision was perverse because the petitioner, Adelabu of APC was denied fair hearing in the matter.

However, the apex court upheld the submissions of Olanipekun that the tribunal’s judgement was in order and that no party was denied fair hearing throughout the period of the hearing.

Justice Ejembi Eko, who delivered the lead judgment, agreed with Olanipekun that the majority judgement was not in line with the position of the law, unlike that of the minority judgement which, he said, was more sober.

The apex court also held that the respondents (APC and Adelabu) were unable to prove the allegations of violence and malpractices which they claimed marred the exercise in parts of the state.

Justice Eko, therefore, allowed the appeal, set aside the judgement of the lower court and restored the decision of the tribunal as prayed by the appellant.

Makinde had appealed the judgement of the Court of Appeal which had set aside the judgement of the tribunal which upheld his election as governor of Oyo State.

Makinde had polled 515,621 votes defeating Adelabu who polled 357,982 votes.

In the Katsina case, the apex court upheld the submissions of Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) that the first respondent, Governor Bello Masari was eminently qualified for the March 9 governorship election.

The court also agreed with Fagbemi that the appellant did not challenge the basic qualification of the governor, other than mere allegations of submitting false information to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for his clearance for the said election.

Justice Mary Peter-Odili, while delivering the lead judgement, held that the appeal by Senator Yakubu Lado, was devoid of merit and substance, and accordingly upheld the concurrent judgement of the tribunal and Appeal Court which upheld the election of Masari as governor of Katsina State.

In the Kaduna governorship dispute, the apex court, in its unanimous judgement, held that the appeal filed by Isa Ashiru, the PDP governorship candidate in the March 9 governorship election challenging the victory of Governor el-Rufai of the APC, lacked merit.

Similarly, that of another PDP candidate in Nasarawa State, David Ombugadu against the election of Governor Abdullahi Sule of the APC was also dismissed for lacking merit.

According to the judgement of the apex court, the appellants in the two different appeals failed to substantiate their claims of irregularities and substantial non-compliance with the electoral laws.

The judgement also noted that the two appellants did not show evidence to warrant the setting aside of the concurrent decisions of the tribunal and Appeal Court.

The Supreme Court accordingly upheld the election of both el-Rufai and Sule as Governors of Kaduna and Nasarawa states respectively.

In the two appeals against Governor Sanwo-Olu of Lagos, a seven-member panel of the apex court held that the cases brought by the applicants did not comply with the requirements for such applications according to Nigeria’s electoral law.

The court also held that the allegations of non-compliance brought against Sanwo-Olu were not substantiated.

“A petitioner has the freedom to use his own language, but should know that he is taking a big risk.

“They were supposed to prove that the non-compliance not only existed, but that it substantially affected the result of the elections. This they failed to do,” the apex court ruled.

In Abiodun’s case, the apex court dismissed the appeal filed by Adekunle Akinlade of the Allied People’s Movement (APM). Akinlade is a protégée of former governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun.

The court held that the applicant failed to prove his allegation against the governor.

The court, in a judgement read by Justice Dattijo Mohammed, said the applicants – Akinlade and APM – did not prove their allegation of non-compliance to the electoral laws.

“There is a failure to establish the substance of the alleged non-compliance,” the court ruled.

For Udom, the apex court held that the case filed by the candidate of the APC lacked merit.

The APC candidate in the March 9 governorship election, Nsima Ekere, had challenged the victory of Governor Emmanuel, who was declared the winner of the election by INEC.

In a judgement delivered by Justice Mary Odili, the court says Ekere’s “appeal lacks merit and it’s accordingly dismissed.”

For Umahi, the apex court consequently dismissed the appeal against his election.