4
THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 19, 2011
NEWS
Tambuwal backs Akande-Adeola for House leader
Akwa Ibom tribunal dismisses ACN’s petition
T
HE Akwa Ibom State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal From Yusuf Alli, Abuja yesterday dismissed the petitions by the Action Congress AS the House Speaker of Nigeria (ACN) and two Aminu Tambuwal and his others against the election of deputy Emeka Ihedioha Governor Godswill Akpabio embarked on ‘peace shuttle’ in April. to members to allow Hon. In a ruling by its Chairman Mulikat Akande-Adeola to Adam Onum, the tribunal emerge as House Leader. held that the petitioner failed But members told the to comply with the proviSpeaker to prevail on Mrs sions of the Electoral Act on Akande-Adeola to lobby the steps for applying for nothem instead of standing aloof as if it is a must for her tices for pre-hearing session. It held that the petitioners to become House Leader. failed to first apply for leave If the members accept the before moving their ex-parte Speaker’s plea, the ambition motion for pre-hearing noticof Hon. Muraina Ajibola to become the Leader will crash. es, as required under Paragraphs 18 and 47 of the First Ajibola, had initially Schedule of the Electoral Act offered to be Speaker but he stepped down for Tanbuwal. 2010. The petitioners said they It was learnt that the Speaker and his deputy spent would appeal the decision, a greater part of the weekend saying it was a miscarriage of justice and an exhibition of begging members to allow the tribunal’s bias. the Presidency and the PeoOne of the judges of the ples Democratic Party(PDP) three-man tribunal, Justice to have their way so that Lateef Lawal-Akapo, of the there can be peace in the Lagos High Court, did not sit House. with the others when the rulIt was gathered that the ing was read. new House leadership has The tribunal did not say not been ‘acceptable’ to the why the third judge was abPresidency and the party. sent. The tribunal chairman is But the choice of Mrs Akande-Adeola as the Leader from the Benue High Court, and the third member, Juswill determine whether the tice Joke Adepoju, is of the Presidency and the party Abuja Judiciary. should sheathe their swords Lawal-Akapo was sighted against Tambuwal and his deputy or draw a permanent in the tribunal premises before the beginning of probattle line. ceedings. He left the court A source in Muraina’s with the two other judges afcamp said: “There had been ter the proceedings had endsome talks but the ultimate decision is that of members.” ed. Lawal-Akapo was driven out of the court premises in a Toyota Camry XLE car, with registration nmber (Akwa Ibom) AG 261 UYY. THE Publisher and Board of The tribunal held that the Directors of Global Media non-granting of leave robbed Mirror Limited, publishers of it of jurisdiction to make the National Mirror , have appoint- order of July 5 with which it ed Mr. Steve Ayorinde as the set down the case for pre-hearManaging Director/Editor-In- ing sessions. It set aside the Chief of the newspaper. The order and quashed the proappointment, according to a ceedings leading to it. statement signed on behalf of It dismissed the petition the Publisher of the newspaprayed by the first and secper Dr. Jimoh Ibrahim, takes ond respondents (Akpabio effect from July 15. Ayorinde, and his deputy, Nsima Ekere) until his elevation, was the and affirmed their emergence Daily Editor and Executive as winners of the election. Director (Publications). The tribunal upheld the peIbrahim described Aytitioners’ argument that the orinde as a “young, hardapplication for the issuance of working, loyal and commitpre-hearing notice could be ted journalist in whose hands by a motion ex-parte or mothe vision of making the tion on notice. National Mirror a brand of It discountenanced the archoice has been placed.” gument by the first and secIbrahim said Ayorinde’s ond respondents that they contributions to the company were not served with the many months before the motion for application for repackaged newspaper hit the pre-hearing notice. It held newsstands on December 17, that it was not the business of last year and the seven the petitioners to serve the remonths he has spent editing spondents. the newspaper has recomThe tribunal struck out a mended him for the new similar application by the Inposition. dependent National ElectorAyorinde, 41, is the current al Commission (INEC) on Editor of the year Diamond the ground that it was incomAwards for Media Excellence petent. (DAME), which he won last It said the application was year as the Editor of The PUNCH.
Ayorinde is MD National Mirror
Osinbajo: ruling strange, curious
L
AWYER to Akwa Ibom State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, yesterday described the ruling of the Governorship Election Petition tribunal sitting in Uyo as strange, saying it was not only new jurisprudence but also a very curious one indeed. In a statement, Osinbajo said: “The ACN was amazed by the ruling of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Uyo (today July 18, 2011), where the Tribunal strangely dismissed the petition of our party and that of our candidate Senator Akpanudoedehe and Dr. Samson Umana and as well, affirm the election of Godswill Akpabio as Governor of Akwa Ibom State even when petition is yet to be determined on the merit. “The only ground upon which the Tribunal came to its decision is that we, as petitioners, did not seek leave to bring the application for the Tribunal to issue pre-hearing notice. In effect, the Tribunal took the curious view that a motion to begin the pre-trial process (as it must be any way!) must be by leave! “While our party, the ACN, and its candidates who are co-petitioners hold and will continue to hold the judiciary in high esteem, we consider the ruling of this tribunal to be strange and in total variance with existing law and jurisprudence on issuance of pre-hearing. “The provision of paragraph 47(1) of the first schedule to the Electoral Act pursuant to which the Tribunal set aside the order for prehearing session it had earlier issued has been part of the Nigerian law since 2007 by way of paragraph 6(1) of the practice direction number 1 of 2007. However, there is no legal or judicial authority in Nigeria that prescribes that leave must first be sought and obtained before an application for pre-hearing session can be made and granted. Indeed no tribunal or Court of Appeal any where in the country since the practice directions were first issued in 2007 has ever held that a mission to begin pre-trial must be by leave of court because such a motion is taken outside the pre-trial session! “The ruling of the Akwa Ibom State Election Petition Tribunal is therefore not only new jurisprudence but also a very curious one indeed. “More strangely is the fact that the same
tribunal failed to consider the argument of the petitioners that in bringing their application, the 1st & 2nd respondents did not seek leave to bring the application outside prehearing session. Yet, the same tribunal set aside the orders it had previously granted for the issuance of pre-hearing notice on the sole ground that the petitioners did not apply for and obtain leave to determine the application. It would thus appear that to the honourable Tribunal, what is good for the goose is not good for the gander, assuming without conceding that the provision of leave is applicable for pre-hearing session of the petitioners. “In fact, the tribunal failed, refused and/or neglected to refer to and consider the argument of the petitioners that the application of the 1st and 2nd respondent is incompetent as no leave was sought to bring the application outside pre-hearing session, particularly when the contention of the 1st & 2nd respondents is that no pre-hearing has commenced. “The ACN also considers perverse, that the tribunal granted an unsought for relief by affirming the re-election of Akpabio when it had not even considered the substantive matter. The grant of this relief becomes even more troubling when compared to the earlier part of the tribunal’s ruling wherein it stated catego by a party only to turn around on the point for the purpose of confirming the re-election of Akpabio when same relief was not sought by any party. “In view of the fact that our party believes that the ruling of the tribunal files in the face of existing law and jurisprudence on the issue of applying for pre-hearing session, we have instructed our lawyers to immediately proceed on appeal. ‘’Only on Monday July 11, 2011 we caught on tape INEC officials stealing away ballot boxes from the INEC secretariat in Uyo, this was brought to the attention of the court. “We hereby, urge our teeming supporters and Akwa Ibom State electorate who voted enmasse for our party to remain steadfast and committed, as we believe that justice will definitely prevail and the usurpers will be shown the way out ultimately by the appropriate court,” the statement added.
From Eric Ikhilae and Kazeem Ibrahym, Uyo
not filed at the appropriate time to challenge the procedures adopted by the petitioners. ACN, its governorship candidate and his running mate, Senator John Akpanudoedehe and Ime Umanna had, by their petition, challenged the announcement of Akpabio as the winner of the April governorship election by INEC. Akpabio organised a thanks giving services on Sunday at Parish of Assumption, Ukana Iba, his local government. Most people in court wore long faces after the ruling. They grudgingly left the court premises and were heard saying the decision must be appealed. A lawyer, Ajibola Basiru, who stood in for the petitioners’ lead lawyer, Prof Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), said his clients would appeal the decision. He said the tribunal overstepped its bounds.
•Akpabio
•Akpanudoedehe
He said: “As far as we are concerned, the judgment of the tribunal is manifestly faulty in law and in justice. There is a manifest bias on the members of the panel. The same court that said it could not grant a prayer that was not sought, went ahead in its orders, to say it affirmed the election of Akpabio.
“That was not the issue before the court. It shows manifest bias and palpable injustice that the tribunal has wrecked on the people of Akwa Ibom State. As lawyers, we know our onions and we know what is right. “The absurdity of the tribunal’s ruling is clear. What we said is that we wanted to start
a process, that is, the pre-hearing session and the tribunal said we must first get leave before we could kick start the same process. That position is a clear absurdity. “The cases relied on by the tribunal in reaching its decision, particularly that of Okereke and Yar’Adua, are not relevant in the circumstance of this case. In Okereke and Yar’Adua, the application there was for further and better particulars and objection on point of law. “In this case, we said we want to even kick start our case and you said we have abandoned our petition. How can we abandon our petition when we have written a letter and also filed a motion ex-parte? “You see, with due respect, when people said the Judiciary is acting below standard, this is part of the reason. How can judges of the High Court be saying they have affirmed the election of somebody when the issue is not even before them. The issue before them is should the tribunal dismiss our petition? “The fact that you dismiss the petition does not mean you affirm the election. Assuming there are some other extant petitions by other parties, what then happen to those petitions, when you have affirmed the election? “Definitely this injustice can not stand. We have been through this part before. If you remember in Osun State, Justice Naron gave this kind of questionable ruling, which we appealed and the court had to send us back for retrial. “It took us three and half years, but at the end of the day, victory came at last. So the standing of the tribunal today that Akpabio is confirmed as governor of Akwa Ibom State, is certainly wrong in law. It shows manifest biased on the part of the judges and shows that they are acting a script that is actually outside their mandate as judges of the Nigerian courts. “Definitely, we are going to appeal. This is an injustice. There are so many appealable grounds: One, the ex-parte order to start the pre-hearing session does not affect any person. It is to kick-start a judicial process. It is only when an injunction has been granted against you that you should do an act or that you should not do an act, that you talk about bringing an application to discharge it. “So, clearly, Order 26, Rule 11 of the Federal High Court Civil Procedure Rules, under which they purportedly brought the application, does not apply at all. “The second ground of our appeal would be to say that Paragraph 47(1) of the First Schedule of the Electoral Act does not apply in the context of applying for kick-starting the pre-hearing process.”
Ringim embargoes movement of explosives
N •Ayorinde
ATIONAL Security Adviser (NSA) Gen Andrew Azazi has waded into the crisis of confidence between the army and the police over the interception of 700 bombs in Abuja. The move is to ensure a close knit coordination of the activities of security agencies. The Inspector General of Police, Hafiz Ringim, who
From Sanni Onogu, Abuja
disclosed this at a press conference in Abuja also said he has banned the ‘unauthorised movement’ of explosives by construction companies. According to him, the Federal Government cannot out-rightly ban the use of explosives because of the effect it will have on the construction firms and their
employees. Ringim said: “Under the law, the Nigeria Police Force indeed, monitors and checks the magazines of various companies that deal in these explosives and we are doing our best. “Indeed, at the moment, the Inspector General of Police has placed an embargo on the movement of all these items without clearance from the police.”
He added: “Let me add that we must realise that even though we have the current security challenges, it is impossible for us to say that companies that deal in these cargoes should not deal in them because if you stop activities in all the quarries in this country, you will be causing another serious problem in the labour market. “Because when these companies do not operate,
you can imagine the number of people that will be out of job. I am not saying that government is not mindful of the security challenges but we are also mindful of other problems that will be caused. The Inspector General of Police has placed a ban, currently, on the movement and activities of those magazines until they seek clearance from the Inspector General of Police.