For the second time, the Supreme Court, Friday, dismissed an appeal that sought to sack Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State from office. In their unanimous judgment yesterday, a 5-man panel of Justices of the apex court, dismissed the appeal which was filed before them by the governorship candidate of the Democratic Peoples party, DPP in the April 26, 2011 gubernatorial election in the state, Chief Great Ogboru, as grossly lacking in merit. Describing Ogboru’s appeal as an abuse of court process, the Supreme Court, ordered him to pay N50, 000 to Governor Uduaghan as well as to two other respondents that were joined as parties in the suit. The other respondents were the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. Specifically, Ogboru, had in an application, asked the apex court to reverse itself and set aside its judgment that earlier struck out an appeal he filed in opposition to the declaration of Governor Uduaghan as the authentic winner of the 2011 gubernatorial election in the state. He contended that his appeal was struck out in error, saying he never at any time, authorized his former lawyer, Mr. Sebastian Hon, SAN, to withdraw the matter, an action he said led to the termination of his suit by the apex court on October 12, 2012. It will be recalled that the apex court had on March 2, 2012, faulted the appellate court for its failure to hear and deliver judgment on the gubernatorial dispute within the 60 days stipulated in section 285 (7) and (8) of the 1999 constitution as amended. The apex court held that the Appeal Court panel erred in law when they deferred reasons behind their judgment till a date outside the legally prescribed period for determination of such matter, stressing that the action rendered their verdict unconstitutional, null and void. More so, it noted that the lower court adduced reasons behind its verdict 72 days after the expiration of the period. Justice Tanko Mohammed who read that judgment had observed that: “Though the trial tribunal gave its verdict on November 11, 2011, the appellate court gave its own judgment on January 5, 2012 and reserved its reasons till January 27. A simple arithmetic shows that the appeal took 72 days which is clearly outside the stipulated time-frame. “It is my considered view that there was no valid judgment in the Delta state appeal, accordingly, I declare the judgment of the court below including its reasons as null and void and this appeal is hereby struck out,” he added. Dissatisfied with the striking out of the suit even after the apex court had declared the lower court verdict as a nullity, Ogboru, re- approached the court, asking it to reverse itself. Arguing through his counsel Dr. Dickson Osuala, Ogboru maintained that the apex court acted wrongly, saying it should have invoked section 22 of the Supreme Court Act and heard his substantive gross against the said election or issued a consequential order remitting the petition back to governorship election petition tribunal for re-trial. However, both counsel to Uduaghan, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, that of the PDP, Mrs J.O Adesina, SAN and that of INEC, Chief Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, opposed the application, saying it was nothing but a mere academic exercise. The respondent argued that Ogboru’s lawyer voluntarily withdrew the matter having seen the futility in pursuing the case, adding that the fact that the appellant argued that the lawyer acted without his permission has no weight in the eyes of the law.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Jun 2013 08:54:55 +0000
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