Supreme Court upholds Fayose’s victory

Ayodele Fayose was confirmed as the winner and the duly elected
governor of Ekiti State in the June 21, 2014 election yesterday after
supreme court ruling..
In a unanimous decision by the seven-man panel led by Justice John
Fabiyi, the apex court upheld the earlier decisions of the Court of
Appeal and the Ekiti State Governorship Election Tribunal, both of
which had earlier ruled that the petition challenging Fayose's victory
lacked merit.
In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, the apex
court dismissed all the grounds of appeal filed by the petitioner –
the All Progressives Congress – and resolved all four issues arising
from the appeal against the party.
"All the issues having been resolved against the appellant, the appeal
is devoid of merit and it is my order that the same be, and is hereby,
dismissed in its entirety," Justice Ngwuta ruled.
Justice Fabiyi and other members of the panel – Justices Suleiman
Galadima, Olabode Rhodes-Vivour, Clara Ogunbiyi, Kumai Aka'ahs and
John Okoro – all agreed with the lead judgment.
A former governor of Ekiti State and National Deputy Chairman of the
APC (South), Mr. Segun Oni, was the only notable member of the party
that was present when the judgment was delivered at the Supreme Court
on Tuesday.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared that Fayose
of the Peoples Democratic Party polled 203,090 votes to defeat the
then incumbent governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, of the APC who polled
120,433 votes in the election.
Dissatisfied with the results declared by the INEC, the APC had filed
a petition, urging the Ekiti State Governorship Election Petition
Tribunal which sat in Abuja to nullify the election.
The APC was the sole petitioner in the petition excluding its
candidate, Fayemi, who had earlier congratulated Fayose immediately
after the results of the election were announced.
The petitioner had anchored its case on the grounds of alleged
intimidation of its leaders by the military, ineligibility of Fayose
to stand for the election because he was previously impeached as
governor of the state in 2006 and the allegation that the PDP
candidate forged his Higher National Diploma certificate presented to
INEC.
The Justice Siraju-Mohammed-led tribunal had in its verdict delivered
on December 19, 2014, dismissed the petition for lacking in merit.
The Justice Abdul Aboki-led five-man panel of the Court of Appeal,
which also sat in Abuja, on April 15, 2015 affirmed the decision of
the tribunal.
But the appellate court condemned the deployment of soldiers who
allegedly harassed and intimidated APC leaders during the election.
The APC had further appealed to the Supreme Court having been
dissatisfied with the Court of Appeal's decision.
The Supreme Court held in its judgment on Tuesday that none of the
grounds of appeal was proved by the appellant.
The judgment dwelt extensively on the impeachment of Fayose on October
16, 2006, describing it as "an exercise in futility" given the
illegality that characterised it.
The apex court held that though impeachment was not one of the grounds
of disqualification for standing for an election unders section 182(1)
of the Constitution, the findings of the impeachment panel over
alleged contravention of code of conduct by Fayose could not be relied
on.
It added that that the impeachment panel which recommended Fayose for
impeachment on October 16, 2006, was illegally and unconstitutionally
constituted.
Justice Ngwuta held that the purported impeachment of Fayose was an
exercise in futility as the House of Assembly illegally appointed an
Acting Chief Judge who set up another impeachment panel after an
earlier one had given Fayose a clean bill of health.
"The finding of guilt made against the 2nd respondent (Fayose) is not
worth the paper on which it was written," the apex court held.
Justice Ngwuta explained, "What is the status of the impeachment panel
that purportedly found the 2nd respondent (Fayose) guilty of a
contravention of the Code of Conduct?
"It is on record that earlier, at the request of the Ekiti State House
of Assembly the Chief Judge of the state constituted a panel to
investigate allegations against the 2nd respondent.
"It would appear that the House did not substantiate the allegation
levelled against the 2nd respondent and so the impeachment panel gave
him a clean bill of health as it were.
"This should have ended the matter in compliance with section 188(8)
of the Constitution.
"Contrary to the mandatory provision, the Ekiti House of Assembly, in
apparent witch hunt, procured a judge in the Ekiti State judiciary to
set up a second and unconstitutional panel to investigate the 2nd
respondent (Fayose) a second time. It is on record that the then Chief
Justice of Nigeria wrote to the judge to say that his purported
appointment as Acting Chief Judge of Ekiti State was unconstitutional
and so null and void."
On the issue of militarisation and harassment of leaders of the APC,
the Supreme Court held that the Chief of Defence Staff and the
Inspector-General of Police, joined as 4th and 5th defendants in the
case, were not necessary parties and were rightly struck out by the
tribunal.
The apex court held that the issue of deployment of soldiers in the
conduct of the June 21, 2014 election was not an issue properly
presented before the tribunal and the Court of Appeal and such the
lower court's (Court of Appeal's) comment on it had no force of law.
It also held that the actions of the men and officers of the two
defendants that allegedly harassed the APC leaders during the election
and whose names were not mentioned could also not be answerable for by
the INEC as stipulated by the Electoral Act.
The court held, "At best what the appellant dubbed crucial finding of
the Court of Appeal is a mere comment which amounts toobiter dictum.
"Obiter dictumcannot be the basis for raising a ground of appeal from
which can be framed. The comment is not aratiodecidendiof the decision
appealed against."
It also held that the allegation of certificate forgery had been
caught by the principle of "issue estoppel" as it had been laid to
rest since 2004 by the Court of Appeal's judgment in the case of
Alliance for Democracy against Fayose.
According to the apex court, the Court of Appeal had in the said
judgment held that the HND certificate was genuinely earned by and
awarded to Fayose.
Meanwhile, there was widespread jubilation in Ado Ekiti over Fayose's
victory at the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
The people erupted in joy immediately news filtered into town that
Fayose had won. Residents trooped out in their hundreds to join other
PDP's supporters who had gathered near the Government House.
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