Tag: Appeal Court

Oyetola asks Appeal Court to declare Adeleke unqualified over alleged certificate forgery

Mr. Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC), on Monday, asked the Court of Appeal, Abuja to declared Gov. Ademola Adeleke of Osun unqualified to have contested the July 16, 2022 poll in which he emerged as winner over alleged certificate forgery.

Oyetola, whose candidacy in the poll was affirmed by a tribunal, made the prayer in a cross appeal marked: CA/AK/EPT/GOV/03/2023 filed before the three-member panel headed by Justice Mohammed Shuaibu.

The 1st and 2nd cross appellants in the case are Oyetola and the APC respectively.

In the matter, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Adeleke, and the PDP are the 1st to 3rd cross respondents respectively.

NAN also reports that Adeleke had, in an appeal marked: CA/AK/EPT/GOV/01/2023, prayed the court to set aside the judgment of the Osun tribunal delivered on Jan. 27 which upturned his victory at the poll.

Adeleke, who dragged Oyetola, APC, and INEC before the appellate court as 1st to 3rd respondents respectively, urged the panel to dismiss the tribunal’s judgment.

Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, who was counsel to Adeleke, challenged the decision of the tribunal which nullified the victory of his client in the governorship election.

Ikpeazu, argued that a member of the tribunal, who was also a chief magistrate, did not air her opinion during the judgement delivery.

Rather, he said she only appended her signature and the constitution mandated her to have aired her views about the suit.

But Oyetola’s counsel, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, disagreed with Ikpeazu.

The senior lawyer submitted that mere signing of the judgment, and not making any comment could not have rendered the judgment invalid.

He further argued that Justice Terste Kume, who headed the tribunal, in the open court, made a pronouncement while delivering the judgment using the expression, “We, members of the tribunal…,” to imply that the decision was unanimous.

He also argued that there was over-voting in 744 polling units across the state.

Fagbemi urged the court to dismiss Adeleke’s appeal.

Arguing the cross appeal, Akin Olujimi, SAN, who appeared for Oyetola, prayed the court to declare Adeleke unqualified to have contested the election, in the first instance, over allegations bordering on certificate forgery.

INEC had, on July 17, 2022, declared Adeleke the winner of the governorship election conducted on July 16, 2022 after polling a total of 403,371 votes.

He was said to have won in 17 of the 30 local government areas in the state.

But Oyetola and his party, the APC, approached the court to challenge the victory on the grounds that there was over-voting and that Adeleke was not eligible to run at the time.

The Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal had, on Jan. 27, voided the July 16, 2022 election that produced Adeleke of PDP as the elected governor.

The panel led by Justice Kume, in its judgment, invalidated the election and declared Mr Gboyega Oyetola of APC as the valid winner of the poll.

The tribunal directed INEC to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Adeleke and his deputy, Kola Adewusi, both of whom had been sworn in.

It, however, directed that the certificate of return should instead be issued to Oyetola.

Justice Kume held that the governorship election was not held in compliance with Nigeria’s Electoral Act.

The tribunal also held that the governorship election was characterised by over-voting.

The tribunal, thus, ordered that Oyetola should be returned as governor of Osun State.

Olujimi, in his argument on Monday, said that that they were able to prove a case of forgery against Adeleke but the tribunal failed to make a consequential order in that regard.

He said the development led to the filing of the cross appeal.

He said Adeleke, who vied for the governorship position, submitted a forged certificate to INEC.

He stated that besides the issue of over-voting established by the tribunal, the cross respondents erroneously thought Adeleke was eligible to contest in the poll even with the controversy surrounding the certificate forgery.

Olujimi argued that having found that the case of forgery was proved by the petitioners (Oyetola and APC) against the 2nd cross respondent (Adeleke) in regard to his Exhibit EC9 and FILE D, the tribunal ought to have held pursuant to Section 182(1)(j) that Adeleke was not qualified to have vied for the July 16, 2022 Osun governorship election.

He also submitted that Adeleke failed to call evidence to disprove a case of forgery against him, saying that “an evidence tendered in one case cannot be relied on in another case.”

He urged the court to uphold the cross appeal.

Counsel to INEC, Paul Ananaba, SAN, said the cross appeal was hollow, praying the court to dismiss it

Also, Adeleke’s lawyer, Ikpeazu, urged the court to dismiss the cross appeal.

He argued that since Oyetola and APC were the petitioners before the tribunal, they ought to have called evidence to prove their case, and not the respondents.

Alex Iziyon, SAN, lawyer to the PDP, also aligned with Ikpeazu’s submission.

After taking arguments from counsel to the parties, Justice Shuaibu reserved judgment in the case.

March 13, 2023
Osun Governorship: Appeal Court reserves judgement on Adeleke’s case

The Appeal Court on Monday, reserved judgement to decide on the case by Senator Ademola Adeleke challenging the decision of an election petition tribunal that nullified his victory in the Osun governorship election.

Judgement on the matter will be given at a later date as a three-member panel led by Justice Mohammed Shuaibu takes the arguments and adopts the briefs of all parties in the suit.

During proceedings today, Counsel to Adeleke, Onyechi Ikpeazu, held that a member of the panel, who is also a chief magistrate, did not air her opinion during the Judgement delivery. Rather, she only appended her signature and the constitution mandates her to have aired her views about the suit.

Counsel to Mr Oyetola, Lateef Fagbemi, however, held that mere signing of the judgment, and not making any comment afterwards does not make the judgment invalid.

He noted that the case of over voting exceeded 6 polling units as claimed by the Appellant, adding that the anomaly was experienced in 744 polling units across the state.

Fagbemi further stressed that the findings of over voting were obtained from the back end server of INEC.

In their defense however, Onyechi Ikpeazu held that results stored in the backend server, are inconsistent and unreliable as they can be affected by internet connectivity and battery life of the Bvas used to upload the result.

These two factors according to him can affect the upload.

Adeleke’s counsel also stated that he conducted a physical examination on the Bvas, and it showed that over voting occurred in just six polling units, and not 744 as claimed by the Counsel to Oyetola

Senator Adeleke who is candidate of the People’s Democratic Party had won the said election held on 16 July, 2022, the result which was nullified on the grounds of over-voting.

Adeleke had in February, appealed the judgement of the Osun State Governorship Tribunal which nullified his election.

The tribunal ruled in favour of a former governor of the state Gboyega Oyetola. While delivering the judgement, two out of the three-member panel of the tribunal held that Oyetola proved that there was over-voting in some of the polling units.

But Adeleke swiftly rejected the ruling and described it as a “miscarriage of justice”. Weeks later, the governor filed an appeal before the Akure division of the Court of Appeal.

In the 31 grounds of appeal filed on Wednesday, Adeleke prayed the court for “an order setting aside the whole decision of the tribunal”.

The governor equally sought “an order striking out the petition for want of competence and jurisdiction or in the alternative, an order dismissing the petition on the merit”.

“The second respondent cannot ‘go lo lo lo lo’ and ‘buga won’ as the duly elected governor of Osun state,” the governor said.

“The tribunal, in its judgment, erred in law and displayed bias against the appellant when it made reference to the appellant’s dance at his inauguration as governor of Osun state which was never an issue before the lower tribunal,” Adeleke noted.

“By referring to the appellant’s personal eccentricity for dancing, the lower tribunal derided and mocked him in a manner suggesting that it was biased against him.

“The appearance of bias manifests in the reference to the Appellant’s proclivity for dancing and particularly the Buga song, has rendered the decision of the lower Tribunal a nullity.

“The tribunal in its judgment erred in law in returning the 1st respondent as the duly elected candidate without due regard to the enormity of the voters in the units where the results were cancelled for overvoting.”

March 13, 2023
Appeal Court begins hearing in Adeleke’s appeal against Osun tribunal judgment

The Court of Appeal, Abuja, on Monday, commenced sitting in an appeal filed by Mr. Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against a judgment of the tribunal which invalidated his election as governor of Osun.

The three-member panel of justices led by Justice M.F. Shuaibu, began sitting in the appeal at about 10am.

While Adeleke is the appellant, Oyetola and the All Progressives Congress (APC) are 1st and 2nd respondents in the appeal marked: CA/AK/EPT/GOV/01/2023.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the PDP are also joined as 3rd respondent and 4th respondents respectively.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal had, on Jan. 27, voided the July 16, 2022 election that produced Adeleke of PDP as the elected governor.

INEC had declared Adeleke the winner of the election after polling a total of 403,371 votes.

He was said to have won in 17 of the 30 local government areas in the state.

But the panel led by Justice Terste Kume, in its judgment, invalidated the election and declared Mr Gboyega Oyetola of APC as the valid winner of the poll.

The tribunal directed INEC to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Adeleke and his deputy, Kola Adewusi, both of whom had been sworn in.

It, however, directed that the certificate of return should instead be issued to Oyetola.

Justice Kume held that the governorship election was not held in compliance with Nigeria’s Electoral Act.

The tribunal also held that the governorship election was characterised by over-voting.

It said after deducting the excessive votes, the figure Oyetola polled at the election was 314, 921.

The tribunal, thus, ordered that Oyetola should be returned as governor of Osun State.

INEC, in its earlier results, said Oyetola won in 13 LGAs with 375,027 votes in the July 16, 2022 governorship election.

Fifteen candidates contested for the poll which was keenly contested between Adeleke and Oyetola.

In his petition, Oyetola, the immediate-past governor of the state, had alleged that the election was characterised by over-voting in 749 polling units.

He also argued that Adeleke forged the academic credentials he submitted to NEC to contest for the election.

The tribunal had commenced sitting in August 2022, a few weeks after the governorship election.

Oyetola and the APC were petitioners in the case with Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, and Akin Olujimi, SAN, as their lead counsel.

INEC was the 1st defendant, Adeleke the 2nd defendant, and PDP as 3rd defendant.

The hearing was still ongoing as at the time of filing the report.

March 13, 2023
Why we postponed Governorship, State Assembly elections – INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday rescheduled Governorship and State House of Assembly elections earlier fixed for March 11 to March 18.

The commission announced this in a statement by its National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr Festus Okoye, in Abuja on Wednesday night.

Okoye said that the decision was necessary to ensure adequate time to back up the data stored on the over 176,000 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices used for the Feb. 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections, and then reconfigure them for the governorship and state assembly polls.

Okoye said following Wednesday ruling by the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (EPT) on the reconfiguration of the BVAS used for the Presidential election, INEC met to assess its impact on the commission’s preparations for the state elections scheduled for March 11.

He recalled that on March 3, the EPT gave an ex-parte order for some political parties to inspect materials used for the Presidential election, including the forensic inspection of over 176,000 BVAS used in the election which are located in INEC LGA offices across the country.

He explained that INEC approached the Tribunal to reconsider the order, given that the BVAS Systems were to be deployed for the state elections.

He said the action was also necessary given the lack of a clearly defined timeframe for the inspection could disrupt the commission’s ability to conduct the outstanding elections.

“For instance, the BVAS can only be activated on the specific date and time of an election. Having been used for the Presidential and National Assembly elections on Feb. 25, it is necessary to reconfigure the BVAS for activation on the date of the Governorship and State Assembly elections.

“While the ruling of the Tribunal makes it possible for the commission to commence the preparation of the BVAS for the Governorship and State Assembly elections, it has come far too late for the reconfiguration to be concluded.

“Consequently, the commission has taken the difficult but necessary decision to reschedule the Governorship and State Assembly elections which will now take place on Saturday March 18,” the statement read in part.

Okoye said that by the decision, campaigns would continue until midnight of Thursday (March 16); that is 24 hours before the new date for the election.

“This decision has not been taken lightly but it is necessary to ensure that there is adequate time to back up the data stored on the over 176,000 BVAS machines from the Presidential and National Assembly elections held on Feb. 25 and then to reconfigure them for the Governorship and State Assembly elections.

“This has been the practice for all elections, including the period when the Commission was using the Smart Card Readers,” he asserted.

Okoye reiterated that INEC was not against litigants inspecting election materials.

“Consequently, it will continue to grant all litigants access to the materials they require to pursue their cases in court.”

He assured all political parties and candidates that the data from the Presidential and National Assembly elections would be backed up and available in INEC cloud facilities, including the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV).

“Political parties can apply for Certified True Copies of the backend data of the BVAS.

“Also, the results on the BVAS will continue to be available on the IReV for interested parties to access.”

Okoye appreciated all Nigerians and friends of Nigeria for their understanding as INEC continue to deal with those difficult issues and navigate these challenging times.

March 9, 2023
BREAKING: Court grants INEC permission to reconfigure BVAS

The Court of Appeal on Wednesday granted INEC permission to reconfigure its Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the Saturday Governorship and State Assemblies Elections.

A three-member panel of the appellate court , led by Justice Joseph Ikyegh, granted leave to the applicant for the purposes of configuring the BVAS for the election on Saturday.

The panel, however, asked INEC to upload data to back-end server and make true certified copy to the respondents .

INEC in its motion filed on March 4, asked the appellate court to vary the ex parte order made in favour of Labour Party and the People’s Democratic Party, (PDP), with regards to inspection of materials used for the presidential election.

The appellate court had on March 3, granted leave to Atiku Abubakar of the PDP and Mr Peter Obi of Labour Party to inspect election materials used by INEC to conduct the Feb. 25 presidential election.

Details shortly…

March 8, 2023
Saturday’s elections in doubt as Nigerians await court ruling on BVAS

The Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections scheduled for Saturday March 11, 2023 are in doubt as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is yet to to reconfigure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) required for the elections.

TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) recalls that INEC used the BVAS to conduct the presidential, Senate and House of Representatives elections on Saturday February 25, 2023 and according to the Commission, the machines need to be reconfigured to prepare them for use in the forthcoming elections.

This is coming as a result of an ex parte orders made in favour of Labour Party and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) by the Court of Appeal with regards to inspection of materials used for the national elections.

The appellate court led by Justice Joseph Ikyegh had on March 3 granted leave to Atiku Abubakar of the PPD and Mr Peter Obi of Labour Party to inspect election materials used by INEC to conduct the February 25 presidential election.

The court granted the duo permission following two separate ex parte applications filed by Atiku and Obi, who came second and third respectively in the presidential election won by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Specifically, the applicants urged the court to compel INEC to allow them to obtain documents it used for the presidential election to aid their petitions against the outcome of the presidential election.

“An order granting the applicants’ permission to do electronic scanning and make photocopies of voter’s registration, ballot papers used in the conduct of the election for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria held on the Feb. 25.

“An order granting leave to the applicants to carry out Digital Forensic Inspection of BVAS machines used for the conduct of the Feb. 25 election for the Office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

The plaintiffs also sought an order restraining INEC “from tampering with the information embedded in the BVAS machines until due inspection was conducted and Certified True Copies of them issued”.

The court in its consideration ordered INEC to allow the applicants inspect all the electoral materials used in the conduct of the presidential election.

The court permitted the appallants to do electronic scanning and/or make photocopies of Voter’s Registration, Ballot Papers used in the conduct of the presidential election.

However, INEC asked the court to vary the order to allow it to reconfigure the BVAS for the March 11 governorship and state houses of assembly elections.

Counsel to INEC, Tanimu Inuwa, SAN said the application became necessary following the order restraining it from tampering with the information embedded in the BVAS machines until due inspection was conducted and Certified.

Inuwa added that the commission would require sufficient time to reconfigure the BVAS needed to conduct the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections that would take place on Saturday.

He told the court that INEC would “upload from back-end”.

However, in his argument, counsel for Obi, Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN prayed the court not to grant INEC’s application for granting it would mean losing the original information there.

”All we are seeking is for a physical inspection of the BVAS so that the evidence is obtained before it will be configured” Ikpeazu told the court.

He therefore, opposed INEC application and urged the court not to grant it.

The three-member panel of the appellate court after listening to their submissions adjourned until Wednesday [today] for ruling.

March 8, 2023
Appeal court grants Obi, Atiku permission to inspect election materials

The request by the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi and his peoples Democratic Party counterpart, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to inspect the election materials used during last Saturday’s presidential poll has been granted by the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja.

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja granted the request of both presidential candidates on Friday, March 3rd.

Recall that Atiku and Obi approached Court of Appeal to seek permission for the inspection of election materials used during last Saturday’s poll.

Also, Atiku and Obi refused to concede defeat in the February 25 presidential election, vowing to recover their mandate in court.

The two candidates rebuffed the gesture of conciliation made by the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, who in his acceptance speech after he was declared the winner of the poll on Wednesday, asked them to support him in the task of building the nation.

Atiku and Obi spoke at separate news conferences in Abuja on Thursday.

But the court on Friday granted both candidates’ request to have access to all the sensitive materials INEC deployed for the presidential election won by All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.

The Justice Joseph Ikyegh-led panel of the appellate court, which will also sit as the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, granted the request after it heard two separate ex-parte applications brought by Atiku, Obi and their political parties.

The electoral umpire, Tinubu and APC were cited as Respondents in the matter.

Both applications were predicated on Section146 (1) of the Electoral Act 2022, Paragraph 47 (1, 2 &3) of the First Schedule of the Electoral Act of 2022, as well as under the inherent jurisdiction of the Court as referenced by Section 6 (6) A & B of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

Obi, in his application that was moved by his team of lawyers led by Mr Alex Ejesieme, SAN, sought six principal reliefs.

Atiku’s lawyer, Adedamola Faloku, sought seven prayers from the tribunal.

Specifically, the applicants urged the court to compel INEC to allow them to obtain documents in its custody that were used for the presidential election.

They maintained that the requested documents would aid their petition against the outcome of the presidential contest that was declared in favour of Tinubu.

March 3, 2023
Ebonyi PDP Governorship: Appeal Court Dismisses Suit against Chukwuma Ifeanyi’s candidacy

The Court of Appeal, on Wednesday, dismissed a fresh appeal challenging the nomination of Chukwuma Ifeanyi as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ebonyi in the March 11 Governorship election.

The appellate court dismissed the suit filed by Tochukwu Okorie, on the grounds that it constituted a gross abuse of court processes.

Justice Adebukola Banjoko, who read the unanimous judgment of the three-man panel also affirmed the N5 million fine imposed on the appellant’s lawyer for engaging in court abuse.

Okorie had dragged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and PDP before the Court of Appeal challenging the nomination of Ifeanyi.

Also, praying for the setting aside of a default judgment he secured at the Federal High Court in Abakaliki.

A Federal High Court judge in Abakaliki, Justice Fatun Fiman had on February 1, 2023, in a suit number: FHC/ABJ/ CS/1696/2022, filed by Okorie against INEC and PDP set aside an earlier decision of the same court which was granted in favour of the plaintiff.

Justice Riman set aside all reliefs granted in favour of Okorie upon becoming aware that the plaintiff (Okorie) grossly suppressed material fact.

This is especially, the final judgment of the Supreme Court on the same subject matter to secure the default judgment.

Dissatisfied with the setting aside of the judgment, Okorie had approached the Appellate Court in Abuja praying that all the reliefs granted him by the Federal court in Abakaliki be restored to him.

His request was, however, vehemently opposed by the PDP through its counsel, Mr. Chris Uche, SAN.

Uche informed the court that the Supreme Court had in its judgment last year settled all issues relating to the nomination of the PDP’s governorship candidate in Ebonyi.

Specifically, the senior advocate informed the Court of Appeal that the Apex Court affirmed Chukwuma Ifeanyi as the governorship candidate.

He also told the appellate court that the Federal High Court in Abakaliki reversed the default judgment in line with the provisions of the law.

The law on suppression of fact and pleaded with the Court of Appeal to dismiss the case of the appellant.

In her judgment, Justice Banjoko agreed with the PDP counsel that the appellant was in gross abuse of court processes with multiple cases over the same subject matter.

Banjoko specifically held that the fresh case by Okorie was an affront to the final decision of the Supreme Court on the Ebonyi PDP governorship ticket tussle.

The appellate court thereafter dismissed the appeal and affirmed the N5 million fine imposed on counsel to the appellant.

The Supreme Court had on Sept. 14, 2022, in an appeal marked: SC/CV/939/2022, affirmed Chukwuma Ifeanyi as the lawful governorship candidate of the PDP.

Ifeanyi having emerged from a primary election conducted by the National Working Committee of the PDP.

The Apex Court had struck out the appeal filed by a factional governorship aspirant, Sen. Obinna Ogba on the grounds that the issue of nomination of candidates for election is a domestic affairs of political parties.

Reacting to the latest judgment, Chief Uche admonished lawyers to always counsel their clients against engaging in abuse of court process.

February 23, 2023
BREAKING: Appeal Court sacks A’Ibom PDP governorship candidate

The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Tuesday evening sacked a member of the House of Representatives Micheal Enyong as the governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for Akwa Ibom State.

In his place, the court restored Mr Umo Eno, a former Commissioner for Land whose nomination by the party was set aside by a Federal High Court in Abuja on January 20, 2023.

In a judgment delivered in an appeal filed by PDP against the Federal High Court judgement, Justice Hamma Akawu Barka voided the judgment of the Federal High Court and set it aside on the ground that it was predicated on errors.

Justice Barka agreed with counsel to the PDP, Mr Paul Usoro and Uwemedimo Nwoko that the Federal High Court judgment was delivered in error and that the court was misled by the plaintiff in the matter to arrive at an unjust conclusion.

The appellate court held that the issue of statutory delegates who voted at the primary election is an internal affair of the party and that the lower court ought not to have inquired into the issue.

Justice Barka also agreed with Usoro that only the National Working Committee, NWC, of a political party has the power to conduct primary elections for the purpose of nominating candidates for the general election.

The appellate court further held that since the lower court has no jurisdiction to inquire into the internal affairs of PDP, the judge has no discretion in law to exercise in the matter.

Justice Barka thereafter upheld the appeal of the PDP and vacated all orders made by the Federal High Court in favour of Michael Enyong.

Besides, the Court of Appeal ordered Enyong, a House of Representatives member from Uyo Federal Constituency, to pay a sum of one million naira to the appellant as the cost of litigation.

Reacting to the judgment, Usoro said that the judiciary has done justice to the unlawful orders issued by the Federal High Court against PDP.

February 21, 2023
Akwa Ibom: Appeal Court reserves judgment in Udofia, Enang’s APC governorship poll dispute

The Court of Appeal, Abuja has reserved judgment in an appeal filed by the sacked Akwa Ibom governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Akanimo Udofia, against the judgement of a lower court.

The three-member panel headed by Justice Elfreda Williams- Dawodu made this known after counsel to the appellant, Damian Dodo, SAN, and Sen. Ita Enang’s lawyer, Mba Ukweni, SAN, adopted their briefs and presented their arguments for and against the appeal.

Newsmen reports that a Federal High Court (FHC) sitting in Uyo had, on Nov. 14, nullified the nomination of Mr Udofia as the governorship candidate of the APC in Akwa Ibom.

The judge, Agatha Okeke, ordered the APC to conduct a fresh governorship primary within two weeks but barred Udofia from participating in the new primary.

The case was instituted by Mr Enang, a former presidential aide who was an aspirant in the primary.

Enang had prayed the court to declare him the validly elected candidate of the party arguing that Udofia was not a member of the party as at the time of the primary.

But Udofia had filed an appeal marked: CS/C/370/2022 to challenge the FHC judgment.
In the appeal, Enang, APC and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are 1st to 3rd respondents respectively.

Also, in another appeal filed by the APC through its lawyer, J.Y. Musa, SAN, on the same matter marked: CS/C/371/2022, Enang, Udofia and INEC are 1st to 3rd respondents respectively.

Upon resumed hearing in Udofia’s appeal on Saturday, Dodo said the brief which the appellant relied upon was dated Dec 9 and filed same date.

He adopted all his court documents and urged the court to set aside the judgment of the lower court.
Arguing his case, the lawyer said the lower court erred in its judgment as the suit, which was commenced via an originating summons, ought to have been instituted through a writ of summons, citing an Appeal Court judgment which was affirmed by the Supreme Court on Oct 21 to support his submission.

He said the apex court held that whenever parties are in dispute, especially in pre-election matters, what should be filed was the writ of summons where parties would called their witnesses to enable the court make an unbiased decision since it would be difficult for a court to find two parties agreeing on a fact.

He said in the instant case where there were allegations of results being fabricated, votes being allocated to certain people, Enang (1st respondent) should have commenced the suit by writ of summons.

Dodo also argued that Enang’s amended originating summons was filed at the lower court outside the 14 days period prescribed by law.

According to him, when the lower court predicated its judgment on the amended originating summons, that became an incurable malady that has afflicted the entire suit and the consequence is that the judgment of that court on the basis of the amended originating summons is complete nullity.

Besides, he argued that the brief filed by Enang at Appeal Court was filed out of five-day stipulated time.
He urged the court to uphold their appeal and make a consequential order directing INEC to recognise and publish Udofia (appellant)’s name as APC candidate for 2023 Akwa Ibom governorship poll.

But Ukweni, who appeared for Enang, disagreed with Dodo’s submission.
Responding to the argument that Enang’s brief was filed out of time at Appeal Court since he had within five days to do so, the lawyer said the record of appeal showed that he was served on Dec. 12 in open court in Calabar

He explained further that though the appellant served them with brief of appeal on Dec. 9, the 1st respondent (Enang) was not served with the record of appeal, including the notice of appeal, until Dec. 12.
He said their brief, dated Dec. 14, was filed on Dec. 16.

“So it is not correct that we filed our brief out of time,” he said, citing a 2006 case decided by Court of Appeal between Justice Party and INEC to back his argument.

Ukweni said in that case, the court held that the respondent’s time to file brief would commence when complete record had been served on parties.

“In fact in this case, all the records in this particular appeal were served on the respondent on the 12th day of December, 2022 in open court,” he insisted.

Reading his brief of argument, the lawyer said that service out of jurisdiction does not apply to FHC when the process is to be served within Nigeria.

He urged the court to dismiss Udofia’s appeal. Responding to the reply brief of the appellant that Enang’s amended originating summons at FHC was filed outside 14-day period, Ukweni said the trial judge granted their amended originating summon on Aug. 24 in a ruling.

The lawyer argued that the amendment on the originating summons was a decision of the court which was deemed to be properly filed.

He further argued that Udofia should have challenged the court ruling within 14 days from Aug 24 when it was delivered.

“So to now say that they are attacking the judgment on the ground that it was based on amended originating summons is an indirect way of seeking your lordship’s extension of time to appeal against that decision of 24th August, 2022,” he said.

He prayed the court to strike out the issues and the grounds of appeal in this respect.
The senior lawyer, who argued that the decision of the court is sacrosanct, said they cannot come through the back door to challenge it.

Disagreeing with Dodo on filing the lower court suit through originating summons instead of writ of summons, Ukweni said that the Chief Judge of FHC, Justice John Tsoho, gave a practice direction for speedy trial of pre-election cases.

He argued that Justice Tsoho, by the power conferred on him as CJ, directed that pre-election matters should be commenced through originating summons based on the expediency.

“And we commenced the suit by originating summons,” he said.
He clarified that the fact of the case was not the same with the authorities cited by Dodo.
“In that case, there were issues of forgery of certificate but we are not amending forgery of certificate.
“Our argument is that the appellant (Udofia) is a member of PDP who contested its primary election on 25th of May, 2022.

“How come on 26th of May, 2022, you became a candidate of APC?
“That was the simple case that was presented before the lower court and which has come up before your lordship on appeal,” he said.

Ukweni said Udofia admitted before the lower court that he joined APC on May 1.
“The trial judge said assuming we followed your argument that you joined APC on May 1, but the register of members of the party as provided for by the Electoral Act was submitted to INEC on April 14.

“So how could you have passed through the process of nomination even if you have joined a party on May 1st?” he asked.

He told the court that a ballot paper of PDP primary held on May 25 with Udofia’s photograph on it was exhibited in their brief.

The lawyer urged the court to dismiss the appeal, saying it was unmeritorious.

Newsmen reports that the 2nd (APC) and 3rd (INEC) respondents did not file any brief in the appeal.
Ukweni also prayed the court to dismiss APC’s appeal for being unnecessary, after an appeal had been filed by Udofia.

“Why would you (APC) complained for another person?” he asked, urging the court to dismiss it and affirm the lower court judgment directing the conduct of another election for party members.

Justice Williams-Dawodu, after observing that the case would expire on Jan 22, reserved the matter for judgment.
She said that judgment date would be communicated to parties

December 26, 2022