The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal has set aside the decision of the Electoral Tribunal of the National and State Assemblies in Asaba, which declared Ndudi Elumelu of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency election in the Delta State. .
A three-member panel of the tribunal headed by Mohammed Shuaibu on Thursday declared Ngozi Okolie of the Labor Party the winner of the election.
The Court of Appeals is the final court in legislative election petitions.
Shuaibu confirmed the arguments of Okolie’s lawyer, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Mahmud Magaji, that the appellant was duly nominated by his party.
The judge said Okolie resigned his appointment as Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the Delta State Government within the statutory period enshrined in Section 66(1)(f) of the constitution.
Nigeria’s electoral commission, INEC, had declared Okolie the winner of the February 25 election, but Elumelu, former minority leader of the House of Representatives, challenged the election result in court.
Mr Elumelu based his claim on Mr Okolie not being validly nominated by the Labor Party, arguing that the latter did not resign his appointment 30 days before the election, as required by the Constitution.
The trial court, presided over by AZ Mussa, in its July 24 judgment annulled Mr Okolie’s victory based on Mr Elumelu’s arguments.
The appeals court held that the court lacked jurisdiction to delve into the issue of political party nominations which it said was a pre-election issue.
“…the nomination and sponsorship of a candidate is an internal matter of a party,” Mr Shuaibu said.
Referring to a large number of cases, the judge noted that Elumelu and the PDP lacked legal standing to demand the emergence of Okolie as the standard bearer of the Labor Party.
“The first and second respondents (Mr Elumelu and the PPD, who are not members of the appellant (Mr Okolie and LP) are meddlesome trespassers.”
Award a cost of N100,000 against Elumelu
Dismissing the suit, the court imposed a fine of N100,000 against Mr Elumelu and the PDP in favor of Mr Okolie.
The main judgment in Mr Okolie’s appeal was drafted by a member of the panel, Habeeb Abiru, but read out on Thursday by Mr Shuaibu.
Meanwhile, the appeal court reprimanded INEC lawyer EO Okoko for maintaining contradictory positions in court and the Court of Appeal.
“I must specifically comment on the conduct of the counsel for the third respondent (INEC), Mr EO Okoko, which I find unprofessional and deserving of condemnation,” Mr Shuaibu said.
The judge condemned Mr Okoko’s conduct when he supported Mr Okolie in court, but argued for Mr Elumelu and in the Court of Appeal, forcing the court to reject his submissions in the suit.
“Parties and attorneys must be consistent in handling their cases in both the trial court and on appeal. In the present case, the third respondent, the alleged electoral umpire, has not demonstrated neutrality through the conduct of the said lawyer.
“The response of the third respondent, at pages 188 to 189 of the record, implicitly admitted that the appellant (LP) conducted a primary which produced the fourth respondent (Mr Okolie), but he retracted his argument before us in which stated that the first and second respondents have the locus standi to file an election petition and that the fourth respondent was not duly sponsored as it did not emerge from any primary.
“In addition, the appeal is generally considered a continuation of the original lawsuit and not the beginning of a new one. And, on appeal, the parties limit themselves to their cases as they argued before the trial court. On the basis of the above, the third respondent’s amended brief is dismissed. I won’t say more,” the court said.
Thus, Thursday’s court ruling effectively ends Elumelu’s twelve-year legislative career.