Niyi Odebode, Ade Adesomoju, Fidelis Soriwei, Adelani Adepegba and Peter Dada
The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave the
Justice Ibrahim Saulawa panel of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which is
handling the various cases relating to the dispute over the Peoples
Democratic Party’s governorship ticket in the forthcoming election in
Ondo State, the nod to continue with its proceedings.
In two separate rulings, the five-man
panel of the apex court led by the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria,
Justice Walter Onnoghen, unanimously dismissed the motions asking for
stay of the appeal court’s proceedings and others seeking an order
disbanding the Justice Saulawa-led panel.
The two categories of motions dismissed
by the apex court on Tuesday were filed by nine applicants led by Biyi
Poroye, who is the chairman of the Ali Modu Sheriff-led faction of the
party in Ondo State that is backing business mogul, Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim,
as the party’s governorship candidate in the forthcoming poll.
The apex court arrived at the decisions
when 14 separate appeals relating to the dispute over the PDP’s
governorship ticket for the forthcoming election in Ondo State came up
for hearing on Tuesday.
Other members of the Supreme Court’s
panel – Justice Tanko Muhammad, Kumai Akaahs, Kudirat Kekereekun and
Ejembi Eko – all agreed with the lead rulings read by Justice Onnoghen.
With the two rulings of the apex court,
the Justice Saulawa panel could now go ahead to deliver its reserved
judgments on the appeals filed by Eyitayo Jegede and a factional
National Chairman of the PDP, Ahmed Makarfi, challenging Jegede’s
replacement by the Independent National Electoral Commission as the
party’s governorship candidate for the election scheduled to take place
on November 26.
Ibrahim belongs to the Sheriff faction while Jegede is of the Makarfi faction of the party.
Jegede and Makarfi had appealed before
the Court of Appeal challenging the orders of Justice Okon Abang of the
Federal High Court in Abuja made on June 29 and October 14, 2016,
directing INEC to drop Jegede and substitute him with Ibrahim as the
authentic governorship candidate of the party in Ondo State in the
election slated to hold on Saturday.
Incensed by the motions filed by the
applicants, the Supreme Court after dismissing them, awarded cumulative
cost of over N10m against Poroye’s group and their lawyer, Mr.
Beluolisa Nwofor (SAN), for filing the applications adjudged to have
constituted an abuse of court process.
The Justice Saulawa panel had earlier on
November 18, 2016, suspended the plan to deliver its reserved judgments
on the pre-election dispute in order to await the decision of the
Supreme Court on the motions for stay of proceedings filed before the
apex court by Poroye and others.
But ruling on Tuesday, the Justice
Walter Onnoghen panel of the apex court dismissed the 10 consolidated
motions for stay of proceedings filed by the Poroye group, paving the
way for the appeal court to go ahead to deliver its reserved judgment.
The Supreme Court dismissed the
applications for stay of proceedings after the lawyer to the applicants,
Nwofor, on his own withdrew the motions without any objection from
opposing lawyers.
The Justice Onnoghen panel also
dismissed the motion in which the applicants had asked the apex court to
disqualify the Justice Saulawa panel from going ahead to hear the
appeals filed by Jegede and Makarfi while the motions seeking a stay of
proceedings were pending before the apex court.
The applicants had, as part of their
prayers, urged the apex court to invoke its “disciplinary jurisdiction”
against the three Justices of the appeal court and order the disbandment
of the panel.
They had also asked the Supreme Court to
set aside the proceedings conducted by the appeal court while the
motions for stay of proceedings were pending before the apex court.
But the Supreme Court, in its ruling, dismissed the motions for lacking in merit.
‘‘The court below (Court of Appeal) is, hereby, ordered to continue with its proceedings forthwith,’’ Justice Onnoghen said.
The apex court ruled that since the
motions for stay of proceedings had earlier been struck out, three of
the prayers predicated on them had become academic “and liable to being
discountenanced”.
The apex court ruled that the joining of
the Justices of the Court of Appeal who were not parties to the dispute
before the appeal court, as respondents to the motion, was an attempt
to intimidate the Justices of the Appeal court.
Justice Onnoghen said in his lead
ruling, “Whatever they (the Justices of the Court of Appeal) did before
the lower court was in their official capacities.
“The joining of the Justices of the
Court of Appeal was designed to intimidate them. Put mildly, it is a
conduct that must be discouraged.
“Judicial officers enjoy immunity in the
performance of their duties and are not liable to be subjected to this
kind of intimidation.”
Justice Onnoghen also noted that there
was an earlier panel of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Jumai Sankey,
which withdrew from further presiding over the dispute relating to the
PDP ticket, on account of the petition written against the panel
members.
Justice Onnoghen ruled, “If the
applicants are allowed to continue with these pranks, there will be no
end in sight and it will not augur well for our democracy. I find no
merit in the motion and it is hereby dismissed.”
The Supreme Court awarded N1m each (in
three separate cases) in favour of each of the Justices of the Court of
Appeal joined as parties in the appeal.This amounts to N9m.
Justice Onnoghen directed that the cost
awarded in favour of the Justices of the Court of Appeal is to be
personally paid by the applicants’ counsel, Nwofor.
The apex court also awarded N500,000 in
favour of each set of respondents who were represented by Chief Wole
Olanipekun (SAN), and Robert Emukpero.
The cost is to be paid by the applicants.
Earlier, in its ruling dismissing the
motion for stay of proceedings, the Supreme Court awarded N250,000
against the applicants in each of the 10 motions for stay of proceedings
withdrawn by the applicants.
The applicants were directed to pay a cumulative N2.5m to the respondents.
The court fixed Thursday for hearing of
the substantive appeals challenging the leave granted Eyitayo Jegede and
others to file an appeal before the appeal court to challenge his
substitution with Jimoh Ibrahim as the authentic governorship candidate
of the party in the forthcoming election in Ondo State.
IG deploys 26,000 policemen, 20 gunboats, 12 Armoured Personnel Carriers
No fewer than 26,000 personnel, three
helicopters, 12 Armoured Personnel Carriers and 20 gunboats would be
deployed by the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, in the
state during the election.
Idris said this on Tuesday in Akure
during a meeting he held with INEC officials and representatives of the
political parties in the state.
He said, “Twenty-six thousand police
officers will be deployed in the state, and five officers will be at
each polling unit during the election.
“Also, 20 gunboats will be deployed in
the waterways to ensure maximum security along the riverine areas while
three helicopters will be patrolling at each of the three senatorial
districts of the state.”
Idris added that three commissioners of
police would be in the state for special operations during the election,
while 12 Armoured Personnel Carriers would be deployed in some
strategic areas.
When contacted, the police warned
militants against instigating violence during Saturday’s governorship
election, saying they were ready to contain any threat to the exercise.
The Force Public Relations Officer,
Donald Awunah, stated that every necessary strategy had been put in
place to curtail any security threat or breach during the election.
Awunah explained that the police were
fully mobilised to ensure a hitch-free election in the state, stressing
that logistics had been put in place to make the exercise a success.
He said, “We are fully ready to ensure a
hitch-free election in Ondo State; we have put in place the necessary
security measures, so no militant should dare us.
NSCDS sends 15,000 operatives, sniffer dogs
On its part, The Nigerians Security and
Civil Defence Corps said it had mobilised over 15,000 operatives for the
governorship poll.
It stated that undercover agents had
already flooded every part of the state, adding that various specialised
units like the counter-terrorism and medical units would also be
mobilised for electoral duty in the state.
The NSCDC Public Relations Officer,
Emmanuel Okeh, said the corps intelligence operatives had also been
deployed to gather intelligence on would-be troublemakers and political
thugs.
He said, “We are ready for the
election. Already, our undercover agents are in the state to nip in the
bud any security issue. We are deploying over 15,000 personnel in
addition to the sniffer dogs, CTU and the medical team.”
When our correspondent contacted the
Acting Director, Defence Information, Brig. Gen. Rabe Abubakar, he gave
the indication that the military would deploy its personnel to ensure a
peaceful conduct of the election.
He said that the expected roles of the
military during elections were specified under the ‘Operation Safe
Conduct’ of the Defence Headquarters.
He said, “We have ‘Operation Safe
Conduct’ which is for peaceful conduct of elections; where the roles of
the military are spelt out.
“It directs and guides us to support
civil authorities in creating an atmosphere for free, fair and credible
elections where all citizens could exercise their civil responsibility
without fear and intimidation.”
Election won’t be postponed – INEC
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the
Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, at a
stakeholders’ meeting in Akure on Tuesday declared that the election
would not be postponed.
He noted that security agents would not escort any voter on the Election Day, no matter the status of the voter in the society.
He said, “Police orderlies may accompany
high-profile voters but must never bear arms. Similarly, high-profile
politicians or their agents should not be seen moving from one area to
the other on Election Day or engage in any other violation of the
Electoral Act such as vote-buying.
“Like every voter, they should exercise their civic responsibility in the designated polling units and thereafter return home.”
The chairman appealed to the political
parties and their supporters to eschew violence and culture of
intimidation of electoral officers and “the desperate resort to vote
buying, ballot box snatching, abduction of electoral officials and other
violations of the Electoral Act and INEC guidelines.”
He warned that anybody caught in the act
of violence or violating electoral laws would be dealt with, in
accordance with the law.
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