The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Saturday affirmed the election of Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, after dismissing four appeals challenging his victory at the November 16, 2019 poll.
In separate judgments all of which were unanimous, the five -man panel of the court led by Justice Adamu Jauro dismissed the four appeals for lacking in merit.
The appeals dismissed were filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Actions Peoples Party (APP), the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP).
The PDP’s main claim is that the 2nd and 3rd Respondents did not win the Kogi State Election by a majority of the lawful votes cast.
The court held that declaration of elections by INEC are presumed correct unless proven otherwise.
The 5 man panel of Judge held that the PDP which only pursued that one ground on Appeal has the burden to rebut the presumption arising from INEC’s declaration that Yahaya Bello and the APC won the last Kogi State Gubernatorial Elections.
The appellants also needed to prove that the declared winners did not score the majority of the lawful votes cast.
The results of any polling unit where overvoting is alleged and proven will be cancelled but new elections can only be ordered if it is further proved that the results of that polling unit, if removed from the overall results, will change the outcome of the election.
The panel of Justices held that the appellants did not link their documents to their claims. They merely dumped it on the Tribunal. The Tribunal was right to treat them as having no evidentiary value.
‘They could not prove acts of alterations or how the alleged alterations affected the overall results of the election.
“Multiple thumb-printing was pleaded under corrupt practices. That allegation was subsequently abandoned to all intents and purposes. Evidence in that regard goes to no issue, including that of PW19 – the expert witness.
“Expert evidence is only required where the expert can furnish the court with scientific and other technical evidence which must be outside the knowledge of the judge. It is apparent that expert evidence may be admissible but not indispensable.
“PW19 claimed to be acting on the order of the court but under cross-examination it became clear that he had been acting with the appellant long before the order of the Tribunal for him to get involved. PW19 exceeded his mandate to determine fingerprints when he went over and beyond to engage in counting of ballots. He also admitted that he is not a fingerprint expert. Also none of the other so-called experts who allegedly examined the documents with him signed the report and no reason was given for this. The trial Tribunal was right in rejecting his report”.
The Court of Appeal therefore dismissed PDP’s petition with costs of N100,000.
SDP’s claim that Edward Onoja should have been left as a party to the suit since allegations were made directly against him was upheld. The Court of Appeal held he was denied his right to fair hearing when the Tribunal struck out his name to the petition. However, since the Tribunal has rounded up and is out of time and cannot be called back, there is nothing that can be done now.
SDP’s further allegation that their evidence of their witnesses were not given probative value by the Tribunal was considered by Court of Appeal and deemed as contradictory and empty. The judges rued that their PW3’s oral evidence was replete with glaring and blaring absurdities and totally unhelpful in proving the petition.
Their PW4 to PW13 were all unreliable. Their evidence collapsed totally under cross-examination.
The Court of Appeal held that SDP as other appellants could not prove how the alleged misconducts and corrupt practices could have affected the outcome of election so as to invalidate the declarations by INEC.
On Edward Onoja it was held that all their allegations against him were not proved. Even if proved, they must still be related to a constitutional or statutory provision which affects the election in question. There is none before the court.
The Court of Appeal therefore dismissed SDP’s petition.
The Court also dismissed the appeal filed by Action Peoples Party challenging the election of Yahaya Bello as the Governor of Kogi State.
In a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Mohammed Shuaibu, the court affirmed the decision of the tribunal which dismissed their petition.
The APP in its appeal claimed that INEC unlawfully excluded the party and its candidate from the 2019 governorship election in Kogi State.
On the petition filed by Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) against the judgment of the Tribunal, the Court of Appeal ruled that they could not even prove elementary facts such as the valid nomination of their candidates or even that they held primaries at all.
The Court of Appeal therefore refused to interfere with the findings of the Tribunal and held that the judgment of the Tribunal is affirmed and appeal is dismissed.
