The ongoing legal battle between Senator Smart Adeyemi and Senator Dino Melaye, over who is the authentic winner of the March 28 Kogi West senatorial district election has been source controversy. Shola Oyeyipo writes
Across Nigerian states, there are various intrigues in the post-2015 election tribunals setup to look into the grievances of aggrieved politicians who are venting their angers and calling for justice as regards the conduct of the last general election.
The Kogi West senatorial district of Kogi State where former president, Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) and former National Assembly member for the district, Senator Smart Adeyemi is challenging Senator Dino Melaye’s victory at the March 28, 2015 is one of such litigation attracting the attention of watchers of political developments in the state.
From the onset, Adeyemi had maintained that his resolve to challenge Melaye’s victory at the Election Petitions Tribunal was not necessarily due to inability to accept defeat, but because he was convinced that he could bring evidences before the tribunal to establish that there were irregularities in the electoral process, whereas Melaye on the other hand has maintained that he won the election with the support of the electorate and nothing else.
Hence, the two opposing politicians; Adeyemi (Peoples Democratic Party, PDP); Melaye (All Progressives Congress, APC) and their supporters are looking to the tribunal with fixated anticipation, to see the outcome of the petition.
The Kogi West issue would have been resolved without the characteristic media hypes that occasion most other tribunals but for some events that occurred at the tribunal lately.
First, the media was agog with the news purporting that Senator Melaye plans to frustrate the case instituted against him. Hence, Senator Adeyemi and his supporters in Kogi State urged the judiciary to maintain its neutrality and ensure that the course of justice is not disrupted.
Melaye was quoted as saying that the eventual transfer of his re-trial case to Justice Akon Ikpeme-led panel is an opportunity to ensure that the case suffers frustration till the 180 days set for trial end.
Therefore, politicians loyal to Adeyemi, especially members of the PDP have expressed outrage after Melaye made the statement at the APC primary briefing, where he was said to have jubilated that the transfer of the case back to the first tribunal panel is a way to frustrate the case.
The National Assembly and Legislative Houses Election Tribunal sitting in Lokoja, had dismissed the application by Melaye asking the tribunal panel led by Akiniyi Akintola to decline jurisdiction in hearing the re-trial of Senator Adeyemi.
Counsel to Melaye, Adeyemi Ogunleye filed an application on August 8 asking the tribunal panel led by Akintola to dismiss itself from the case in view of their protest letter to the President of Appeal Court against the judgment of the Appeal and the transfer of the re-trial to a different panel from the first one that dismissed the case at the tribunal level.
Dino (the first respondent) said the Appeal Court judgment ordering for the re-trial specifically stated that the re-trial must be heard under the panel of Justice Akon Ikpeme who first sat on the case and therefore the other panel headed by Justice Akiniyi Akintola has no jurisdiction to entertain the case.
The All Progressives Congress (APC), which is the second respondent, who aligned with the first respondent in a separate application, asked the tribunal to dismiss itself from the case as the petitioner (Adeyemi) failed to pay for filling fee for issuance of pre-hearing notice made the case incomplete and consequently abandoned.
But counsel to Adeyemi, Dr. J.O Olatoke in his counter affidavit urged the tribunal to refuse the application, saying transfer of the case between the first tribunal panel to another is a mere administrative decision of the Appeal Court President and cannot be disputed at the tribunal.
Olatoke in his 24 paragraph counter affidavit also stated that the issue of payment of fee for pre-hearing raised by the second respondent has already been dealt with at the Appeal Court; therefore, the application by the first and second respondent is frivolous. He therefore urged the tribunal to refuse the application, describing it as a “calculated attempt at delaying the course of justice and frustrate the hearing of the petition”.
The tribunal, which in its ruling aligned with Adeyemi’s counsel’s prayer, saying that the panel has jurisdiction to entertain the case because the transfer of the case was made known by the first panel to all parties involved and not shrouded in secrecy as alleged by the first and second respondents.
In dismissing the two applications that were consolidated, the tribunal held that the applications lacked merits and struck it out in its entirety. But after that judgment, the case was re-transferred back to the first tribunal panel of Akon Ikpeme.
This has been the source of worry for Adeyemi and members of the PDP because it is against the judgment of the Appeal Court which ordered for a re-trial of the case based on merit in the interest of substantial justice.
In allaying the fears that followed the media report credited to Melaye, the chairman, Kogi State Election Petition Tribunal, Panel 1, Justice Ikpeme warned litigants before the tribunal to refrain from making scrupulous publications that are capable of bringing the tribunal into disrepute.
Also, to ensure that the claim to frustrate the judicial process does not come to fruition, Dr. Olatoke prayed the Ikpeme-led tribunal to give accelerated hearing to their petition in obedience to the judgment of the Appeal Court which ordered for a re-trial.
“The Appeal Court while ruling for re-trial had stated that: “The appellants’ petition No. EPT/KG/NASS/SEN/O4/2015 between Senator Smart Adeyemi and Anor. V. Hon. Dino Melaye and two Ors is hereby restored and remitted to the National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal holden at Lokoja, Kogi State under the chairmanship of Hon. Justice Akon B. Ikpeme to be heard on accelerated basis, so that it is determined on its merits within the remaining time stipulated by section 285 (6) of the Constitution of the Federal Government of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended),” the judgment read in part.
According to Olatoke, though the second panel led by Justice Akiniyi Akintola had ruled on having jurisdiction to entertain the case, but the re-trial was returned back to the first panel in view of the respondent’s (Dino) protest letter written to the President of Appeal court asking the tribunal to obey the order of the appellant court which specifically stipulated in its judgment that the case must be returned back to the Justice Akon Ikpeme-led panel who first sat on the case.
He therefore prayed the tribunal to also honour all the terms of the Appeal Court order, which calls for the case to be given an accelerated hearing, heard on merit and ignore the technical issues that are being raised by the first and second respondent, (Dino and APC) respectively.
Now, the tribunal has closed the pre-hearing of Senator Adeyemi’s petition challenging the election of Melaye as the Senator-elect representing Kogi West Senatorial district. Justice Ikpeme, before closing the pre-hearing also granted all the prayers of the petitioner to bring in additional witnesses during the hearing; admit the report of the recounted ballot papers in 21 disputed polling units as well as submit the request for determination of primary election of the first and second respondents.
In another dramatic twist, the tribunal also granted the prayer of the third respondent, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw its amended response to the petitioner’s motion filled on April 3, which translates as INEC not challenging Smart’s prayer on the irregularities in the conduct of the election.
The INEC counsel, Adeolu Salako who asked the tribunal for withdrawal of their response to the petitioner’s prayers also prays the court to grant the oral application to strike out some paragraph of its response to Adeyemi’s prayers.
Ikpeme, while giving out modality for the commencement of hearing in view of the limited time left for the tribunal, approved two days for the Adeyemi, Melaye and INEC to open and close their case.
She also approved 30 minutes for cross examination of witnesses; 10 minutes for cross -examination of other counsels’ witnesses and ordered that all documents must be filled latest Monday, September 6 and made available to all other counsels involved.
Senator Adeyemi who is challenging the election of Dino Melaye as senator for Kogi West senatorial district on the grounds of irregularities in the result of the election, is asking the tribunal to disqualify Melaye for not participating in primary election, and to declare him (Adeyemi) winner of the election or in the alternative order for re-election in disputed polling units.
