SUNDAY ABORISADE reports that the five-hour judgment by the Ondo Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, which upheld the election of Governor Olusegun Mimiko, has changed political calculations in the state
The Independent National Electoral Commission on October 21, 2012 declared the candidate of the Labour Party, Olusegun Mimiko, as the winner of the governorship election it conducted a day earlier.
Foreign and local election observers and monitors adjudged the elections free, fair and credible.
However, not everyone agreed as other contestants went to the Election Petitions Tribunal to challenge Mimiko's victory.
Those contesting INEC's verdict alleged, among other things, that irregularities such as violence marred the event.
The Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Chief Olusola Oke and his counterpart in the Action Congress of Nigeria, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, both argued that the election lacked credibility on account of such alleged irregularities.
Counsel to Mimiko and the LP dismissed the allegations and argued that the election was free, fair and credible.
They further argued that the outcome represented the wish of a majority of citizens of the state.
While the petitioners argued that the election result be set aside and a fresh one ordered, the respondents asked that it be upheld.
Several witnesses including experts made presentations and were variously cross-examined by counsel to both parties.
Chief Wole Olanipekun who led five other Senior Advocates of Nigeria in defence of Mimiko's election, urged the Tribunal to dismiss the petitions on the grounds that the petitioners could not substantiate their claims.
He insisted that the election was adjudged free and fair by all and advised politicians to display the spirit of sportsmanship by accepting the wish of the majority of the people.
He said the "injection" of the voters' register relied on by the ACN for its case; failed because there was no evidence that there was manipulation either by the INEC or any of the parties.
He said, "The crux of the matter is injected voters. If anybody has been injected, it is the ACN's candidate."
Olanipekun further argued that the issue of voters' register could not be brought before the court because it was a pre-election matter which the court did not have jurisdiction to entertain.
The lead counsel for the LP, Mallam Yusuf Alli, SAN, agreed with Olanipekun's submissions.
He asked the tribunal to reject the exhibit 50 series of the petitioner as such evidence are not admissible in law.
The counsel to INEC, Mr. Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, concurred with the submission of counsel to both the LP and Mimiko and asked the court to dismiss the petitions against his client.
However, counsel for the PDP and ACN, Mr Patrick Ikueto SAN, and Chief Akin Olujimi, respectively argued that since the voter register used for the election was faulty on account of injection of strange names, the election should be nullified.
Ikueto said the PDP called 45 witnesses including the candidate, Chief Oke, as witnesses and presented several documentary evidence, which he said the respondents could not disprove.
Olujimi also argued that the inability of both the LP and INEC to present witnesses showed that they have abandoned their evidence.
Both PDP and ACN argued that INEC in its submission, had agreed to have injected 164,000 names into the 2012 voter register and could not justify the illegal injections.
Delivering the judgment amidst tight security, Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Kaka'an, dismissed the petitions filed against Mimiko's re-election by Akeredolu, and his counterpart, Oke.
Kaka'an, agreed with the submissions of the respondents and ruled that both petitions lacked merit. He added that the petitioners failed to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt.
Kaka'an also ruled that the issue of illegal injection of voter register allegedly carried out by the INEC was a pre election matter that should have been challenged at a High Court before the October 20, 2012 election.
He said since the INEC had supplied soft copies of the voter register, 30 days before the poll to all parties to the election, anyone who discovered any form of irregularity should have approached a High Court to complain.
The learned judge declared that all the submissions of Akeredolu and Oke in their petitions and the evidence of their witnesses were "bundles of primary and secondary hearsay" which failed woefully to substantiate their claims.
He said, "The petitioners failed woefully to prove their allegations of crimes allegedly perpetrated during the poll by the defendants beyond any reasonable doubt.
"No single witness testified that he or she did not vote or that the votes were taken away to unauthorised places after the election while no police report which indicated violence during the election was tendered by any of the parties.
"The issues relating to the voter register are pre-election matters which the tribunal had no jurisdiction to entertain."
However, both Akeredolu and Oke said their legal teams had been directed to start a fresh process to appeal the judgment.
The PDP said the ruling fell short of the expectation of the Ondo State people. It went further to signify its intention to lodge an appeal.
"We are consulting as a party with our candidate Chief Olusola Oke and the national leadership of the party and our legion of counsel on the next step we are going to take," said a party representative.
On his part, the ACN candidate said in a statement, "Keep Hope Alive-Truth Will Triumph." He expressed optimism that the evidence at hand was strong enough to upturn the tribunal's decision on appeal.
He said, "Recent history on electoral dispute in the country confirms that forensic issues are better appreciated upon review at the appellate level. This possibility we intend to explore to the fullest.
"We are of the firm belief that the primary purpose of government is the welfare of the people. The people of Ondo state are too sophisticated to be hoodwinked by empty technical legal verbiage which stands at variance with the socio-political realities on ground.
"What our people are currently experiencing in Ondo State, is temporary. To thunder is not to rain. A mere apparition that appears like a partial eclipse is a mirage. Light comes with the glorious dawn."
But Mimiko said the verdict had confirmed that the Nigerian judiciary is living up to its billing.
He said, "We, as government, are mindful of the onerous task of meeting the development challenges of our people; we know that the fostering of understanding between government and the people will engender a more conducive environment for the deepening of the dividends of good governance.
"That is why the Labour Party government is calling out top party members to partner with us in meeting the expectations of our people.
"Since we hold the belief that opposition party politics should be to the constructive engagement of the government in power, we are urging those opposed to our politics to shed the adversarial toga and join hands with us in building an enviable and prosperous Ondo State.
"The Labour Party government wishes to use this opportunity to thank all the people of Ondo State for their loyalty during our first term in office; for their support during the governorship election; and for their understanding of, and faithfulness to the policy thrust of our government."
A non-governmental organisation, Egalitarian Mission Africa, described the judgment as the most brilliant in the recent times.
Chairman, EMA, Mr. Kayode Ajulo, in a statement in Akure, said, "As a senior lawyer, it is my humble opinion that the judgment is unassailable and unimpeachable. I do not see how the higher courts can overturn same.
"This opinion is premised on the fact that the judgment fully and duly evaluated all the facts presented by the parties, even irrelevant ones, and dealt with them all dispassionately resting on a plethora of legal authorities that have been handed down by the superior courts over the years.
Keen observers of political developments in the state were of the view that the 172-day litigation did not attract the much-expected tension and publicity, because many commentators within and outside the country had already declared the poll as free and fair, and representing the true wishes of the Ondo people.
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