SAN FRANCISCO, August 29, (THEWILL) – The Supreme Court has upheld the election victory of Dr. Olusegun Mimiko as the duly elected governor of Ondo State in the last governorship election in the state.
On Thursday in Abuja, Justice Sylvester Ngwuta delivered the Supreme Court lead judgement that upheld Mimiko’s victory in the case brought against him by the candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Chief Olusola Oke .
Both the Ondo State Governorship Election Tribunal and the Court of Appeal had earlier upheld his election.
It must be noted that the apex court had to break its yearly vacation temporarily to hear the case in order to beat the 60 day period allowed by the constitution for the determination of appeals on election.
Mimiko, who was represented by Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, asked the court to dismiss the appeals on the ground that the case was baseless and could no longer be heard for want of jurisdiction.
Olanipekun told the court that the case had become a pure academic with the absence of the Action Congress of Nigeria, the platform on which Akeredolu contested in the election.
The court had earlier refused to bring in the newly floated All Progressive Congress, APC, in place of the ACN on the ground that APC did not participate in the election.
Olanipekun said that with the exit of the ACN, there was no ground for Akeredolu to push his case.
The counsel argued that even if a fresh election was ordered, ACN could no longer participate because it was no longer alive and that APC could not legally take its place.
Oke and Akeredolu had in their cases filed separately asked the court to nullify the election on grounds of irregularities, mal-practices and corruptions But Justice Ngwuta rejected the allegation of the ACN candidate that the voter register used for the poll was manipulated.
According to the apex court, Akeredolu failed to produce the alleged manipulated voters register in court and also failed to show whether the 100,000 voters allegedly injected into the voters register engaged in multiple voting or any other malpractices.
Besides, the court held that Akeredolu could not substantiate how the alleged injection of new voters into the register substantially affected the election to warrant its cancellation as requested in his petition.
Justice Ngwuta also held that even if the 100,000 voters allegedly injected into the register had voted and counted for the ACN candidate, he would still not have been declared winner because Mimiko floored him in the poll with over 100,000 votes.
According to the court, Akeredolu’s claim on voter register manipulation was strange having claimed in his petition that the voter register was not made available to him and was not published or displayed in the public.
In dismissing his petition without cost, the court held that his petition was baseless, having been founded on hearsay.
Akeredolu had petitioned the election of Mimiko asking that he be declared the winner because he scored the highest majority votes.
In the alternative, he urged the court to cancel the election for a fresh one but the state election petition tribunal and the Court of Appeal had earlier dismissed the petition for lacking in merit prompting him to approach the apex court to reverse the two earlier judgments.
This came as Justice Mary Peter Odili, in another judgment of the Supreme Court also on Thursday, dismissed the petition of Olusola Oke of PDP as she held that the candidate of PDP failed to prove how the alleged illegal entry of new voters into the register used for the election affected the credibility of the election.
The court further held that most of the complaints of the second appellant were criminal in nature which ought to have been referred to security agents for action.
Oke, who was represented by Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN informed the court that the election was invalid because the Independent National Electoral Commission (NNEC) allegedly injected over 100,000 voters into the process stipulated by law.
The counsel submitted that INEC failed to publish and display the voters register before a valid election could be conducted, adding that in the absence of a validly displayed voters register, the election was liable to be impeached.
Fagbemi argued that conditions precedent for a valid election was not observed because both parties including INEC agreed that over 100,000 names were inserted on the voters register without following due process.
Counsel to Akeredolu Wole Aina, had submitted that the Supreme Court was right in hearing the case during vacation because it was a constitutional provision that the case must be heard within 60 days.
He argued that constitution took precedence over the rule of any court, hence the court had the power to hear the case during vacation to beat the 60 day deadline.
However INEC counsel, Dr Onyechi Ikpeasu, SAN, said if there was any irregularity, the three contestants were the beneficiaries.
He maintained that even if there was any irregularity, it was not substantial to warrant the nullification of the election and urged the court to dismiss the petition.
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