THE APPEAL COURT JUDGMENT ON ABIA ELECTIONS
Posted by Sam Hart | 8 years ago | 3,218 times
I am a Lawyer.
Like we say, I am a Minister in the Temple of Justice. In Law School, we were introduced to this book containing the Rules of Professional Conduct guiding our actions as Lawyers. One of the things we were told in the book is not to criticise the decision of courts so that we do not bring the judiciary to disrepute . That is why we always chorus 'As the Court Pleases' no matter how we feel about the pronouncements of courts.
I am looking at Newspaper Reports of the Judgment of the Court of Appeal on the Abia elections and I am here wondering what I would have said if I was not a Lawyer.
For those of you who do not have the facts, let me reproduce Vanguard Newspaper Report on the Judgment carried on January 1, 2016.
"The Governorship Election Appeal Tribunal sitting in Owerri, Imo State, has nullified the election Governor Okozie Ikpeazu of Abia State.
The court also declared Dr. Alex Otti of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, the winner of the April 11 and April 25 supplementary elections. The five-member panel, headed by Justice Oyebisi Omoleye, annulled the election on the grounds of substantial non-compliance with the electoral law.
Delivering judgment in an appeal filed by Otti, the court said that the APGA candidate scored 164, 444 valid votes to defeat Ikpeazu who scored 114, 444 votes. The court declared that Otti was the winner of the April 11 and April 25 supplementary elections in Abia State.
Omoleye said that the cancellation of the elections held in three LGAs of Obingwa, Osisioma Ngwa and Isiala Ngwa by the returning officers after the results were uploaded to INEC was wrong.
“In the Electoral Act, the Returning Officer has the right to only declare results of elections and not to cancel elections. “This panel discovered that the earlier results uploaded to INEC headquarters correspond with the correct valid registered voters in the three LGAs, while that awarded to the respondent, shows over voting and therefore null and void..."
"...After nullifying the election, the court insisted that there was no need to call for re-run because the results of the April 11 and 25 polls clearly present Otti as the genuine winner of the exercise.
If I was not a Lawyer, I would scratch my head and wonder at the contradictions inherent in the judgment.
-Sam Hart
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