The Court of Appeal
panel sitting in Makurdi on the appeal by the All Progressive Congress (APC)
and it’s candidate, Emmanuel Jime challenging the decision of the State governorship
election tribunal that upheld the election of Governor Samuel Ortom, has been
relocated to Abuja were it is scheduled to give it’s judgment tomorrow
(Thursday).
Jime and the APC are
jointly contesting the unanimous judgment of the governorship tribunal which
dismissed their appeal for lacking in merit.
In the dismissed
petition, the petitioners had questioned Ortom’s victory
on grounds that the election conducted on March 9th and the
supplementary election held on 23rd 2019 were marred by irregularities and not
in compliance with the Electoral Act 2010 as amended.
Jime further alleged
that the Governor was not duly elected by lawful votes, maintaining that
he(Jime) scored the highest number of valid votes and as such, should be declared
winner of the election or in the alternative, order be made for fresh election.
On his part, Governor
Ortom, through his legal team anchored by Chief Sebastian Hon (SAN) stated that
the election was conducted in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act
2010 as amended, adding that non substantial compliance did not affect the
result of the election.
He also, averred that
even if deductions are made as pleaded by the petitioners, the margin of lead
was high and as such, the petition should be strick out in its entirety.
During the hearing of
the petition, Jime called 59 witnesses, Ortom called only one while the
electoral empire, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC did not
call any witness.
However, the tribunal
in it’s judgment delivered by the panel
Chairman, Justice Henry Olusiyi, held
that the Petitioner’s witness statements
were contradictory, unreliable and not credible.
Justice Olusiyi added
that their statements are incompetent frowning at their inability to identify
documents and link them to the case which amounted to dumping the materials on
the tribunal.
He also, held that the
petitioners failed to prove allegation of over voting, noting voters’ register
and not the smarter remains the valid method to ascertain the number of
registered voters in an elegant.
Disastified with the
judgment, Jime and his political party (APC) approached the Makurdi division of
the Court of Appeal seeking an order setting aside the judgment of the
tribunal.
In their notice of
appeal filed by their lead counsel, Yusuf Ali (SAN), the appellants argued that
the tribunal erred in law and occasion a miscarriage of Justice in arriving in
it’s final decision and conclusion dismissing their petition.
On their parts, the
three respondents, Governor Ortom’s, PDP and the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) had in their separate briefs of arguments urged the
intermediate appellate court to dismissed the appeal and affirm the judgment of
the tribunal.
After parties in the
appeal had argued and adopted their briefs of arguments for and against the
petition, the Court of Appeal sitting in Makurdi had reserved judgment in the
appeal.
However, confusion
crept in when parties in the petition received two different hearing notices
one from the Court of Appeal Makurdi division and another from the Abuja division of the court, informing
them of the judgment date fixed for Thursday, November 21, 2019.
For instance, in the
early hours of Tuesday, the legal team to Governor Ortom received notice from
the Makurdi division of the Court of Appeal informing them of the judgment date
by the Court in Makurdi.
But in a contradictory
development, the Court of Appeal, Abuja division, also sent hearing notice to
Ortom’s legal team informing them that the judgment will be delivered in Abuja
on same date.
Reacting to the
development, the Benue State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),
described the development as disturbing and unacceptable.
In a statement
signed by the state publicity secretary,
Bemgba Iortyom, the party totally rejected the move, describing it as “an
attempt at subverting the course of justice”.
The Benue PDP frowned
at the “disturbing and unacceptable development”, noting, “there are no reasons
given for the shift in venue of the hearing of this Appeal from Makurdi to
Abuja”.
The PDP alleged that,
“Emmanuel Jime has been visiting top national leaders of his party to enlist
their support towards subverting the course of justice by pressuring the
appellate court to set aside the judgement of the Benue Governorship Election
Petition Tribunal which was in favour of Gov. Ortom and PDP”.
The party insisted
that the earlier notice of the Court of Appeal, Makurdi Division served to
Governor Ortom and PDP in the appeal by Jime and APC be upheld and the appeal
heard in Makurdi.
