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Tag: Appeal Court

  • Appeal Court verdict excites Abia LP Rep

    Appeal Court verdict excites Abia LP Rep

    Rep. Amobi Ogah (LP-Abia), has commended the judgement of the Appeal Court, siting in Lagos, for reversing the decision of the National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal in Umuahia, which nullified his election as the elected representative for Isikwuato Umunneochi Federal Constituency in Abia State.

    The Tribunal had originally nullified Ogah’s election in September, citing alleged non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act and declared the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Nkiruka Onyejeocha, as the winner of the election.

    Onyejiocha is the incumbent Minister of State for Labour and Employment.

    Ogah’s reaction is contained in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja on Saturday.

    Ogah commended the court for its forthrightness, adding that it would have amounted to a miscarriage of justice if the appellate court had upheld the decision of the tribunal.

    Ogah said the decision by the court of Appeal marks a significant turn of events in the political landscape of Abia State.

    Ogah, who reclaimed his seat as the elected representative for the constituency, commended his party and supporters for their unwavering commitment and loyalty, adding that he can now focus of providing the dividends of democracy to his people.

  • Appeal Court affirms Prof Nnamchi’s victory

    Appeal Court affirms Prof Nnamchi’s victory

    The Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos has upheld the election of Professor Paul Sunday Nnamchi of the Labour Party as the member representing Enugu East/Is I Uzo Federal Constituency in the Federal House of Representatives.

    The Enugu National Assembly Tribunal had erroneously upturned the election of Professor Nnamchi on the grounds that he was not properly nominated by his party and that he also did not properly resign his appointment with his employer, University of Nigeria Nsukka, (UNN) following a petition filed against him by the PDP party candidate Prince Cornelius Nnaji.

    Professor Nnamchi in reacting to the Appeal Court’s affirmation of his victory said “justice has prevailed and God Almighty has made it possible.

    He praised the panel of justices for their uprightness adding that the judgement had proved that all hope was not lost yet in the country’s judiciary

    Also reacting to the judgement, the Local Government Chairman of Labour Party in Isi Uzo, Barrister Emeka Ogene described the judgement as a landmark victory for his party and the people of Enugu East Isi Uzo Federal Constituency.

    He observed that despite the unfortunate earlier judgement of the Enugu National Assembly Tribunal, the Labour Party lawmaker remained focused by churning out motions and a bill in just few months in the green chambers.

    The party stalwart further stressed that with the judgement, the coast was now set for the people of Enugu East/ Isi Uzo Federal Constituency to begin to enjoy robust representations at the National Assembly for the first time since the com men cent of this democratic dispensation.

    Another chieftain of the party in Isi Uzo, Chief Emma Odo equally declared that, “the judgement of the Appeal Court was a huge relief to all of us in the Enugu East/Isi Uzo Federal Constituency even though it was expected because the facts were very clear”.

    ” Our people know the candidate they voted for so the news of the Victory has elicited wild celebrations across the party faithfuls and electorate in the entire length and breath of Isi Uzo Local Government” He further stated adding that his ward, Ikem Ward One will hold proper celebration of the victory Saturday during its monthly meeting.

    The Enugu National Assembly Tribunal had sacked Honourable Nnamchi for allegedly not resigning his appointment with the University of Nigeria Nsukka, (UNN) in line with the alleged institution’s 1976 condition of service which prescribes six months’ notice of resignation as against the 2022 electoral act and the 1999 constitution. Although, the university approved his resignation accordingly.
    The Labour Party had appealed the judgement which it described as grave miscarriage of justice stressing that the Tribunal went outside its brief and delved into a pre-election matter just to impose the Peoples Democratiic Party (PDP) candidate, Prince Cornelius Nnaji against the will of the people

     

    The party also observed that the Tribunal absurdly chose the UNN hand book above the Electoral Act and 1999 constitution which prescribed one month’s notice of disengagement before election to arrive at its precarious judgement. The appeal court reinforced constitution cannot be supplanted by any other law.

  • Appeal verdict: Onowakpo vows to support realisation of “Renewed Hope” Agenda of Tinubu’s govt

    Appeal verdict: Onowakpo vows to support realisation of “Renewed Hope” Agenda of Tinubu’s govt

    …dedicates victory to God

    Senator Joel-Onowakpo Thomas, Delta South Senatorial District, has dedicated his victory at the appeal court to God Almighty, promising to contribute his quota to the realisation of the “Renewed Hope” agenda of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s administration.

    Joel-Onowakpo, who broke silence days after the delivery of the appeal court judgment that finally sunk the Senatorial ambition of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Hon. Michael Diden, in a statement signed by him, said his victory was for democracy, Nigerians and the people of his constituency in particular.

    He said that the victory has emboldened him to further consolidate on the actions already set in motion for the advancement of the country and his Senatorial District, as he expressed hope of a greater and prosperous Nigeria under President Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.

    “This victory is dedicated to God Almighty who made the journey possible and saw it to a glorious end. I therefore assure you that I will not fail God and the people He has given me to represent.”

    “We will now further the actions already being put in place to work for the advancement of the Senatorial District and the good of the people. I hereby appeal that you give me all the necessary support to adequately represent you.”

    The Isoko-Delta born administrator and political strategist, expressed profound gratitude to all those who contributed in one way or the other towards the reaffirmation of his electoral victory as Senator representing Delta South Senatorial District in the red Chambers, assuring that he will not abuse the privilege given to him to represent his constituency.

    “My dear constituents, the electoral process journey we started on the 27th of April, 2022, for me to represent you as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has come to a successful end and to God be all the glory.

    “The Court of Appeal in the judgement passed on Wednesday, 1st of November, 2023 affirmed the mandate you gave me as the duly elected Senator to represent you, the good people of Delta South Senatorial District. On this note, I want to thank God Almighty, the giver of all gifts, who, by His grace, I achieved this. May His name be praised now and forever, AMEN.”

    He said, “My heart felt appreciation goes to His Excellency, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Vice President, His Excellency Alhaji Kashim Shettima, for their support. I want to assure you of my full support and cooperation, to give Nigerians the RENEWED HOPE that we promised them. I am sure that things will be better for Nigerians.

    My appreciation also goes to my Party leadership, the All Progressive Congress at the National level, for their support. I wish to also express my appreciation and pledge my loyalty to my bosses in the National Assembly, led by HE Godswill Obot Akpabio, the Senate President, HE Jibrin Barau, Deputy Senate President, HE Bamidele Opeyemi, the Leader of the Senate. HE Adeola Olamilekum, the Senate Appropriation Chairman, HE Abdullaziz Yari, Senator Sani Musa, Senator Shehu Buba and the host of other distinguished Senators. They all stood by me in this trying period. My thanks also goes to the Clerk of the Senate, whom I fondly call ‘my landlord’ and all the staff of the RED Chambers for their support and prayers.”

    While apologising to those who ought to have been mentioned, but could not due to space, he said, “My sincere appreciation goes to my political leaders, HE James Onanefe Ibori, HE Emmanuel Ewetan Uduaghan, Ovie Omo-Agege, who started the story of this race.

    They all stood by me tenaciously and gave me all the support I needed to get here. Thank you so very much.”

  • Appeal Court affirms Ndume, Lawan as validly elected senators

    Appeal Court affirms Ndume, Lawan as validly elected senators

    The Court of Appeal, Abuja, on Thursday, affirmed the election of Sen. Mohammed  Ndume and Sen. Kaka Lawan of Borno South and Central Senatorial Districts respectively.

    The three-member panel, presided by Justice Biobele Georgewill, held that the two appeals against the lawmakers lacked merit.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC had, on Feb. 25, declared the duo of Ndume and Lawan as the winners of the National Assembly election into the two senatorial districts.

    Dissatisfied with the declaration, Muhammed Kumalia and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenged the election of  Lawan while Kudla Satumari and PDP filed petition against Mohammed Ndume at the state’s election tribunal.

    The Borno National and State’s Election Petition Tribunal dismissed the two petitions.

    Not satisfied with the judgments of the tribunal, Kumalia and Satumari lodged appeals before the Court of Appeal in appeal number: CA/G/EP/SEN/BR/7/2023 between Mohammed Umara Kumalia & another Vs. Kaka Shehu Lawan and others, and appeal number: CA/G/EP/SEN/BR/04/2023 between Kula Satumari & another Vs. INEC and others.

    While Yusuf Ali, SAN, represented Kaka Shehu and APC, Johnson Usman, SAN, appeared for INEC, and Marcel Oru, SAN, represented Ndume in the two appeals.

    The senior lawyers urged the court to dismiss the appeals for lacking in merit.

    Delivering the judgments, the Court of Appeal upheld the submissions of the learned senior counsel to the respondents that the two appeals lacked merit and dismissed same while affirming the election of Lawan and Ndume respectively.

    NAN

  • Appeal Court affirms Dafinone’s victory, dumps Tribunal ruling

    Appeal Court affirms Dafinone’s victory, dumps Tribunal ruling

    The Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos on Wednesday quashed the verdict of the National Assembly Petition Tribunal sitting in Asaba and upheld the electoral victory of Senator Ede Dafinone, senator representing Delta Central Senatorial District.

    Recall that on August 11th, 2023 the tribunal led by Justice W. I. Kpochi, in its judgment in a petition marked EPT/DT/Sen/2023 filed by the senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Ighoyota Amori, ordered a rerun in about 20 units.

    Dafinone rejected the decision and directed his legal team to appeal the tribunal judgment, promising to recover the mandate of freely given to him by the people of Delta Central, a promise he fulfilled at the Appeal Court.

    In a unanimous judgement delivered today, the appellate court upheld Dafinone’s appeal and dismissed the cross-appeal filed by his opponent, Chief Ighoyota Amori of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

    Reacting to the judgment of the Appeal Court, Senator Dafinone expressed gratitude to God Almighty for the victory, noting that he never doubted the capacity of the Nigerian judiciary to do substantive justice.

    “Today we won at the Court of Appeal, this victory would not have been possible without God, so, we give God all the Glory, him alone deserves our praises and may His Name be praised forever.

    “I also want to thank our party leaders for your invaluable support that contributed to our victory, and APC faithful, my supporters across party lines and the great people of Delta Central, this victory is for all of us.

    “Our judiciary has once again demonstrated that it can do substantive justice when the need arises and indeed the hope of the common man.” Dafinone said.

  • Yahaya Bello accepts Appeal Court judgment on Natasha

    Yahaya Bello accepts Appeal Court judgment on Natasha

    Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi has accepted the ruling of the Appeal Court which affirmed the election of Natasha Akpoti-Uduagan, as the Senator for Kogi Central.

    The governor stated this when he briefed newsmen at the presidential villa, Abuja, on Tuesday.

    ”Today as the executive governor of Kogi, I received the news of the decision of the Court of Appeal, notifying the election of Abubakar Ohere and affirming Natasha Akpoti-Uduagan as the Senator representing Kogi Central.

    ”I accept the decision of the appeal court and I use this opportunity to congratulate my sister Natasha Akpoti-Uduagan, as the Senator of the Kogi Central Senatorial District.

    ”Let me also use this opportunity to congratulate everybody that has participated so far in this democratic process. This is the beauty of democracy,” he said.

    Bello said that although he didn’t plan to lose the election, he had accepted the ruling in good faith.

    ”However, both Natasha Akpoti and Abubakar Ohere are my brother and sister. We all hailed from the same senatorial district, the same tribe and the same heritage,” Bello said.

    The governor called on the people of Kogi Central to accept the decision of the appeal Court and work hand-in-hand with all the elected members of the state and National Assembly.

    ”Let us drive the course of development of our dear senatorial district our state and the nation at large.

    ”I thank the wise men who took this decision, I appreciate all the processes that culminates into today’s decision.

    ”We in Kogi central, we in Kogi state we will continue to be united, we have a larger picture ahead of us which is the Nov. 11 governorship election that we are poise to win with landslide,” he said.

    Bello enjoined the people of Kogi not to be distracted, ahead of the Nov.11 governorship election.

    “All hands must be on the deck to ensure that we have a hitch-free campaign, a violent free election and resounding victory on the end of the day.”

    The Court of Appeal, Abuja, on Tuesday, affirmed Natasha Akpoti-Uduagan of the PDP as the winner of the Kogi central election.

    The three-member panel, in a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Hamma Barka, upheld the judgment of the state’s election tribunal and dismissed the appeal filed by Sen. Abubakar Ohere of the APC.

    The court agreed with the submission of counsel for Akpoti-Uduagan, Mr Johnson Usman, SAN, for being meritorious.

    The panel agreed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) failed to give good reason for not collating results in parts of Kogi central particularly in Ganaja/Ajaokuta Ward where results in nine polling units were not collated.

  • Appeal Court affirms Natasha Akpoti winner of Kogi Central Senatorial Seat

    Appeal Court affirms Natasha Akpoti winner of Kogi Central Senatorial Seat

    The Court of Appeal, Abuja, on Tuesday, affirmed the election victory of Natasha Akpoti-Uduagan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the Kogi Central Senatorial election held in February.

    The three-member panel, in a judgment, upheld the judgment of the state’s election tribunal and dismissed the appeal filed by Sen. Abubakar Ohere of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    The court agreed with the submission of counsel for Akpoti-Uduagan, Mr Joshua Usman, SAN, for being meritorious.

    The appellate court also awarded the sum of N500, 000 against the Ohere.

    The Kogi State National and State Assemblies Tribunal, had, on Sept  6, declared Akpoti-Uduagan the validly elected candidate for the poll.

    The tribunal also invalidated the victory of Sen. Ohere.

    The Tribunal Chairman, Justice K. A. Orjiako, delivered the unanimous judgment of the three-man panel, revealing that Sen. Ohere’s results were inflated in nine polling units in the Ajaokuta Local Government Area.

    He added that the Independent National Electoral Commission reduced Natasha’s results in those areas and omitted the results of three other polling units meant for Natasha in the same LGA.

    Following the necessary corrections, the court declared Natasha as the winner of the election with 54,074 votes, surpassing Ohere, who garnered 51,291 votes.

    But unsatisfied, Ohere approached the Court of Appeal seeking to upturn the election.

  • Just In: Appeal Court fires PDP Reps Member over certificate forgery

    Just In: Appeal Court fires PDP Reps Member over certificate forgery

    Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, on Wednesday, dumped the judgment of the National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Yola, Adamawa State, which had affirmed Mohammed Salihu as duly nominated by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to contest for the last House of Representatives election.

    Salihu contested for the Girei/Yola South/Yola North federal constituency election and won.

    The lower court had dismissed the petition filed by Abubakar Baba Zango and the All Progressives Congress (APC) which contended that the PDP lawmaker was at the time of the National Assembly elections in February 25, not qualified to run because he allegedly presented a forged primary school certificate and birth certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    Abubakar’s legal team had prayed the tribunal to nullify the PDP candidate’s election on that ground as well as order INEC to issue him a certificate of return having emerged second runner up in the said election.

    But during its judgment at the time, the chairman of the tribunal, Justice Aloysius Okuma, dismissed Abubakar’s petition saying he failed to provide credible evidence to prove his certificate forgery allegations especially in the area of name variation.

    Dissatisfied with the rulling, Abubakar’s lawyer, F.K. Idepefo, approached the Appeal Court to set aside the judgment and declare his client the House of Representatives member for the constituency in dispute.

    Idepefo contended in his processes that the “the justices of the election tribunal completely misconconceived the case of the appellants in resolving that Salih, Salisu or Salihu is a misnomer or a variant of the name Salihu, as that was not the case of the appellants, rather, the case of the appellants is that certificates presented to INEC were forged.”

    At its judgment on Wednesday, the appellate court allowed the appeal entered by Abubakar against Salihu, agreeing that the certificates of the PDP candidate were forged.

    “Judgment of the lower Tribunal is hereby set aside,” the Court of Appeal held while granting all the reliefs sought by the appellants.

  • Just In: Appeal Court fires Senator Abbo, declares PDP candidate winner

    Just In: Appeal Court fires Senator Abbo, declares PDP candidate winner

    The Court of Appeal has fired the lawmaker representing Adamawa North Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Ishaku Abbo.

    The Court of Appeal in Abuja voided the election of Abbo of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

    The APC senator confirmed development to newsmen the court voided his election in favour of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Amos Yohanna.

  • BREAKING: Appeal Court sacks Senator Ishaku Abbo

    BREAKING: Appeal Court sacks Senator Ishaku Abbo

    The Court of Appeal in Abuja has voided the election of the lawmaker representing Adamawa North Senatorial District in the National Assembly (NASS), Ishaku Abbo.

    A three-member panel presided over by Justice C.E. Nwosu-Iheme, in a judgement, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue a Certificate of Return to Rev. Amos Yohanna of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as validly elected lawmaker for the senatorial district.

    Other members of the panel include Justice M.I SIRAJO and Justuce O.A ADEGBHINDE.

    Recall INEC had, on February 25, declared Mr Abbo as the winner of the senatorial poll.

    Dissatisfied with the declaration, Yohana and the PDP filed a petition before the National and State Houses of Assembly Election Tribunal sitting in Yola, Adamawa State challenging the return of Abbo.

    The tribunal, in its judgement, dismissed Yohanna’s petition for lacking in merit.

    Further dissatisfied with the tribunal’s decision, the PDP’s candidate, through his counsel Johnson Usman, SAN approached the Appeal Court via appeal number: CA/YL/EP/AD/SEN/06/2023 between Rev. Amos Kumai Yohanna and another Vs Ishaku Elisha Cliff and others.

    The Court of Appeal, after hearing arguments from parties, agreed with Mr Usman that based on Section 137 of the Electoral Act, 2022, the results tendered clearly showed that there was no compliance with the Electoral Act.

    The court, thereafter, deducted the invalid votes from the parties and found that Yohanna and PDP won the election by majority of lawful votes.

    The court proceeded to set aside the Certificate of Return issued to Abbo and ordered INEC to issue the same to Yohanna as the valid winner of the election representing Adamawa North Senatorial District.

    Reacting to the judgement, Mr Sam Ologunorisa, SAN, said he had nothing to say since “the Court of Appeal is the final court.”

    When contacted on his reaction to the judgement, lawyer to the APC, Mr Michael Numa, SAN, said he had nothing to say until he sees the judgement.

    “I was not in court when the judgement was delivered. So, I will have to see the judgement before I can comment on it,” he said.

    Reacting to the Monday judgement, Senator Abbo on his verified Facebook page, said, “The Court Appeal in Abuja just voided my election. The gang up has temporarily worked. I will soon address the press”.