The Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos has dismissed the appeal filed by Senator Bassey Albert Akpan and his party, Young Progressives Party, Akanimo Udofia of the All Progressives Congress, APC and Senator John Akpanudoedehe of the New Nigerian Peoples Party,NNPP, challenging the election of Governor Umo Eno of the Peoples Democratic Party.
At separate judgements delivered on Friday in Lagos, the Appellate Court struck out the respective appeals by the three appellants, describing them as lacking in merit.
The court ruled that the appellants missed the point by arguing that since they were not parties in the case, the judgement on the certificate matter was not binding on them.
“The declaratory judgment of a competent court is a judgement in rem is binding on the whole world, and not only on those who were parties in the case,” the court stated
The Court faulted the abuse of judicial process by the Appellants in re-litigating a matter that was dispensed at the High Court, Appeal Court and Supreme Court in favour of the 2nd respondent Pastor Umo Eno Bassey.
“There was no forged certificate presented to INEC. It has already been held to be genuine by the supreme Court, so the issue is resolved against the appellant.”
Ruling further on the appeal by the YPP governorship candidate, the appellate court also faulted the inability of the appellants to summon witnesses who were at the elections as polling agents, to prove their case of elections irregularities.
The court was of the opinion that Bassey Albert and his party only depended on documentary evidences amounting to hearsay, to allege irregularities, without making efforts to bring those who witnessed and took part in the elections at the polling units.
On the local government collation agents that the YPP candidate paraded before the court, the court held that “it is possible to say that the evidence given by Bassey Albert’s witnesses amounted to drama scripts meant to entertain the gallery and not serious statements that could influence the emergence of a Governor.”
Noting further”In pleading a petition, you can’t compel a party to call a witness of your choice, the appellant could if they so wish call any witness. The petitioner must also tender all documents, electoral forms and witnesses who saw it all to prove the alleged illegalities and give life to the documents tendered”
The appeal court also dismissed the preliminary objection by Bassey Albert’s counsel, Tunde Falola, and ruled that the briefs filed by the respondents did not violate the Appeal Court practice direction.
Falola had raised objections, arguing that the briefs of argument by the respondents ran more than the number of pages stipulated by the court practice guidelines and should be rejected.
But the court dismissed the objection insisting that the extra pages did not constitute part of the briefs l, but were mere acknowledgment of authorities and addresses of parties.
The Court ruled that the burden of proof in the allegations that the name of the 2nd Respondent was not the same as the names on the 1981 and 1983 WAEC certificates, was on the Appellants, adding that they failed to establish the proof.Appeal Court Upholds Umo Eno’s election as Akwa Ibom Governor and then awarded a cost of N500,000 in favour of Governor Eno and the PDP .
Following the March 2023 election, INEC declared Umo Eno winner polling 356,348 votes to defeat his closest rival, Bassey Albert of the YPP who polled 136,262 votes.
Recall that the Akwa Ibom electoral petition tribunal had earlier affirmed the election of Umo Eno as the governor of the state.
In its judgement, the tribunal dismissed the petition marked EPT/AKW/GOV/01/2023 instituted by Albert Bassey and his party, the Young Progressives Party (YPP), which challenged the election of the Akwa Ibom state governor.
The unanimous judgement read by Adekunle Adeleye, who led the panel, held that the issue of Eno’s qualification had already been settled by the supreme court.
The tribunal held that the WAEC official summoned via a subpoena as PW10 authenticated the certificates, insisting that “WAEC did not disclaim the 1981 and 1983 WAEC certificates. Without a disclaimer by the issuing authority, the certificates remain valid,” the court held.
The court also held that “There is no legislation in Nigeria that a person’s name should be arranged in a particular order on a document.
“In the absence of any other person holding claims to the said 1981 and 1983 WAEC certificates, I hold that the certificates belong to the 2nd Respondent.
“Even the 1st petitioner himself told the court he was a victim of the same issue as three documents bearing his name tendered as exhibits before the tribunal carried different arrangements of his name, Albert Bassey, Akpan Bassey Albert and Bassey Albert Akpan. This is a case of a pot calling the kettle black.”
Summarily, the tribunal dismissed Bassey’s petition describing it as frivolous and baseless.
The tribunal had also dismissed the petition of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Akanimo Udofia.
Udofia sought the nullification of Eno’s election on the grounds that he presented forged documents to INEC, and also did not score the highest number of valid votes in the March 18, governorship poll.
Udofia also accused the 2nd respondent of being convicted by an Abuja magistrate court, hence not qualified to be fielded for elections.
However, the tribunal ruled that the allegations of substantial non-compliance with the electoral law in the conduct of the elections were not sufficiently proven by the petitioners in their case.
The panel also ruled that the magistrate court, in its judgment, nullified its earlier conviction of Eno and that once a judgment is nullified, it ceases to exist.
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