Appeal Court: Sagay, Adegboruwa differ on Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, fault Abia judgment
By Don Norman
Constitutional lawyers Professor Itse Sagay (SAN) and Barrister Ebun Adegboruwa have responded divergently to Appeal Court judgment on Rivers, Akwa-Ibom and Abia States gubernatorial elections.
Both legal experts, however, reposed confidence in the Supreme Court to correct the anomalies.
In an interview both legal practitioners granted to New Telegraph, Prof. Sagay was of the view that the Appeal Court rulings on Rivers, Akwa-Ibom and Taraba were in order but cautiously faulted that of Abia State on the grounds that he has not fully studied the judgment, while Barr. Adegboruwa insisted that the entire process and judgment were a miscarriage of justice.
Prof. Sagay opined that there was no election in Rivers State because Governor Nyesom Wike, climbed to power on the blood of innocent citizens, where lives and properties were destroyed including ballot boxes.
He said:
When we say there was no election, it is not that there was total absence of ballot papers, but that there were so much destructions; so much unauthorised activities in which armed gangs were raiding the entire places going about terrorizing people and snatching ballot boxes; driving away electoral officers; killing everybody and took full control of the election rather than the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and produced their own result.
The former dean, Faculty of Law, University of Benin who maintained that he would be surprised if there is any change at the Supreme Court, also noted that the one in Akwa-Ibom involving, Governor Udom Emmanuel was also very similar though not as bloody as the Rivers State.
He continued:
The election tribunal in Akwa-Ibom State made a mistake in canceling results in 18 Local Governments and still in effect upheld the election.
By the time you have 18 LGAs canceled, there is no way anyone can score 25%. So for that technical reason alone, they should not have given that type of judgment. It is clear that this is substantial non-compliance. So the tribunal had nothing to uphold once they canceled 18 LGAs.
On the ruling of the Appeal Court on Abia State gubernatorial election, the Professor of law admitted that he has not read it fully but said that based on what he heard that the cancellation of three LGAs: Obingwa, Osisioma and Isialangwa and subtraction made were based on over voting and card reader incident.
“Though it is very difficult for me to conclude but from what I heard, the implication was that based on Zamfara State Supreme Court judgment on over- voting issue, where it ruled that Card Reader has no binding effect over the electoral act,” he said.
“If the decision of Abia State election was based on over voting and card reader incidents, then it means that the decision of the Appeal court concerning Abia State is in sort of danger,” he said.
He further said 300, 000 genuine voters is quite large and if anything has gone wrong in those constituencies or LGAs, the best thing to do was to order for a supplementary election.
On his part however, except in Taraba, Barr. Adegboruwa, berated the Appeal Court on its judgment on Rivers, Akwa-Ibom and especially Abia State asserting that the entire country and the legal profession are becoming totally endangered by the decisions of the election petition tribunals and Appeal Court.
Adegboruwa said:
It’s only an emerging scenario from the 2015 elections in particular and it is very worrisome. The judgment of the court of Appeal in respect to Abia governorship election is very unacceptable. It is therefore important for the Supreme Court to take the election petitions in Abia, Rivers and Akwa-Ibom to make a statement of the global precedent to be followed in election petition and correct all these anomalies that had encrypt into our electoral jurisprudent.
According to him, the worst that would have happened is to allow the people of the cancelled three local governments – Obingwa, Osisioma and Isialangwa – to exercise the right again and to choose between Okezie Okpeazu and Alex Otti and not for the court to take away victory from the Governor and then passed it to the opponent.
He added:
It is totally unacceptable, I verily believed that if the election decision of the Appeal Court in Abia State relates to over-voting then the opponent should not benefit from that exercise because that will mean that there is an irregularity. A decision that affirms over-voting cannot go to the benefit of the opponent.
“I believed that at the appropriate time, given the interference of the CJN, these decisions in respect to election in Abia State and in particular Rivers State would be upturned by the Supreme Court,” he said..
