Election Tribunal: Udoedehe in Deep Trouble!

The election petition filed against the election of Chief Godswill Akpabio as the governor of Akwa Ibom state, by Senator John Akpanudoedehe, may have finally kissed the dust. The petition, which had earlier suffered a devastating set back following its dismissal by the Justice Onum-led election petitions tribunal in Uyo, a dismissal later upheld by the Court of Appeal seating in Calabar, was rescued by a Supreme Court judgment ordering that the matter be returned for a fresh trial, will again be dismissed on technical grounds. The lawyers to chief Akpabio had after the commencement of the fresh hearing, asked the new tribunal to strike out the matter, arguing that the mandatory 180 days allotted for the trial of all election cases by the tribunal had elapsed.
The tribunal in a judgment delivered on January 25, 2012, had ruled that the import of the Supreme Court verdict ordering that the matter be heard de novo, was to confer on the new election tribunal a fresh 180 days within which to rule on the matter. The court had relied on a similar ruling by the Court of Appeal in Calabar, which had ruled in the matter of appeal brought by counsel to Senator Ita Enang, praying that the court should throw out the petition brought by Mr. Nsima Umoh, challenging his election, on account of the 180 day provision in section 285 (6) of the 1999 constitution as amended.
The Supreme Court has overruled the decision of the Court of Appeal on its order of fresh trial of election matters at the Election Petition Tribunals after the expiration of the conditionally 180 days allotted to tribunal by the 1999 Constitution.
Ruling legal impasse Friday in Abuja, Justice Walter S.N Onnoghen, who led four other justices of the Alex court, said that the appellant court was wrong to order for a fresh trial on a case that had been concluded by the tribunal after 180 days.
Ruling in the Borno State governorship case between Alhaji Kashim Shettima of the All Nigerian People's Party (ANPP) against the Alhaji Mohammed Goni of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday, Justice Onnoghen "stressed that the Court of Appeal was in error in delving into the matter.
Section 285 (6) reads: "An election tribunal shall deliver its judgment in writing within 180 days from the date of the filing of the petition".
In his ruling, Onnoghen said "The above provision is very clear and unambiguous and therefore needs no construction or interpretation. The law is settled that in a situation as this the duty of the court is simply to apply the provision. As it exists, that is to give the words their plain and ordinary meaning.
"The above being law, it follows that an election tribunal, in an election petition matter, must deliver its decision/judgment/ruling/order in writing within one hundred and eighty (180) from days from the date the petition was filed. It means the argument cannot be given a day or more even an hour after the one hundred and eighty (180) days from the date the petition was filed.
"It is very worrisome that despite the decisions of this court, since October 2011 on the time fixed in the constitution some of the justices of the lower court (court Appeal) still appear not to have gotten the message. From where will the election tribunal get the jurisdiction to entertain the retrial after the expiration of the one hundred and eighty (180) days assigned in the constitution, without extending the time so allotted? Do the courts have the vires to extend the time assigned by the constitution? The answer is obviously in the negative.
"The amendment to the original Section 285 of the 1999 Constitution by allotting time within which to hear and determine election petition and appeals arising therefrom is designed maters in the country. If the decision of the lower court, in the circumstance of this case and the law, is allowed to stand, it would re-introduce the earlier mischief which the amendment sought to correct. It will mean that the instant election petition can go on for another one hundred and eighty (180) days or more after the expiration of the original one hundred and eighty (180) days assigned by the constitution.
"The lower court (court of Appeal) was therefore in error in delving into the matter in the circumstance of this case." Onnoghen ruled.
With the current Supreme Court position on the matter, the petition brought by Senator Udoedehe and his running mate, Dr Ime Umana, against the declaration of Chief Akpabio and his deputy, Mr. Nsima Ekere, as winners of the governorship election in Akwa Ibom state at the April 2011, may have finally reached its end. A lawyer spoken told Weekly Insight that the judgment might be distinguished from the Akwa Ibom case, as it was the Supreme Court that ordered a fresh trial and not the Court of Appeal and not the same tribunal, as was the case in Borno state.