It was jubilation galore Wednesday in Akure, the Ondo State capital, after the Court of Appeal reinstated Mr. Eyitayo Jegede (SAN) as the rightful candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to contest Saturday’s governorship election in the state, Thisday reports.
Following the ruling, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) last night complied with the order of the court by reinstating Jegede as the candidate of the PDP.
However, the factional candidate of the PDP, Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim, faulted the Appeal Court’s ruling for failing to give a consequential order. He said it was not binding on him and would await the judgment of the Supreme Court on the matter today.
However, Akure residents who had gathered yesterday morning at the Eyitayo Jegede campaign office at Ijapo to await the decision of the Justice Ibrahim Salauwa-led panel, spontaneously burst into jubilation immediately they heard that the Court of Appeal had ruled in Jegede’s favour.
The crowd moved in a motorcade around the state capital singing and dancing to music with the popular jingle used by Jegede for his electioneering, leading to a traffic snarl on two major roads in Akure.
The wife of the governor of the state, Mrs. Olukemi Mimiko, whose motorcade ran into the jubilant crowd at the popular Oja Oba market, could not hide her joy as she and her entourage joined the jubilant crowd to celebrate the Appeal Court’s ruling.
Some market women hurriedly closed their shops and joined the procession while some state civil servants abandoned their jobs to join in the celebration.
On the other hand, the mood at the Jimoh Ibrahim campaign office was sombre, as the place was under lock and key. Also, the flag of the PDP in front of the office had been removed while security operatives at the office had vacated the premises.
Similarly, the office of Biyi Poroye, the factional chairman of the PDP in the state, was deserted.
Earlier yesterday, the Court of Appeal in Abuja had declared Jegede as the rightful candidate of the PDP for the Ondo governorship election billed to hold on Saturday.
In a unanimous judgment, the panel vacated the June 29 judgment of Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which directed INEC to recognise Ibrahim as PDP governorship candidate for the poll.
The battle for the PDP candidacy in Ondo turned out to be a proxy war between the two factions laying claim to the national leadership of the party.
While the Ali Modu Sherrif-led faction continued to claim to be the authentic leadership of the party, the Ahmed Makarfi-led group said it had the mandate to lead the party.
Ibrahim belongs to the Sherrif group, while Jegede who enjoys the backing of the incumbent governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, is loyal to the Makarfi’s faction.
Jegede, who was dissatisfied with the judgment of the Federal High Court, applied for leave of the court to challenge it on appeal because he was not a party in the case at the high court. He had earlier applied to Justice Abang to be made a party but his application was turned down.
However, his appeal to the Court of Appeal was successful, as the appellate court granted him the right to appeal against the high court’s judgment.
His lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), had argued that his client was denied fair hearing at the lower court, which the Court of Appeal accepted.
While the appeal was being heard, those loyal to Ibrahim sought to frustrate the hearing.
First, they accused the judges on the appeal panel of collecting bribes. The allegation forced them to step down.
When the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, constituted a new panel, Ibrahim’s team also challenged her powers to set up the new panel.
But when the new panel insisted on going ahead with the appeal, Ibrahim’s team quickly went to the Supreme Court. They filed an application to stay hearing on the appeal and also listed the justices hearing the appeal as respondents.
However, the Supreme Court in a ruling on Tuesday dismissed all the applications and ordered the Court of Appeal to go ahead and determine the appeal.
Delivering judgment yesterday in the appeal filed by Jegede, Justice Ibrahim Saulawa who presided held that Justice Abang’s refusal to allow Jegede to participate in the trial amounted to a breach of fair hearing.
He held that the denial of fair hearing “rendered the entire proceedings before his court a nullity”.
He further held: “Indeed it is obvious from the records that the appellant’s name had been duly published as the governorship candidate of the 11th respondent (PDP) for the November 26 Ondo governorship election.
“The lower court was in grievous error when it ordered the publication of Ibrahim’s name. The decision of the high court was in total breach of the provision of Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution, which forbids any court from denying fair hearing to a party likely to be affected by the final decision of the court.”
Justice Saulawa held that the action of the court violated the legal doctrine of audi altarem partem (hear the other party).
“The tenets of natural justice entails that a party ought to be heard prior to the determination of case against him,” he added.
The appellate court also noted that Justice Abang ordered INEC to “immediately” recognise Ibrahim who was never a party in the suit that culminated in both the June 29 and October 14 judgments.
“The court below had no jurisdictional competence to make such order. I have no restriction in the circumstance in resolving this issue equally in favour of the appellant,” he held.
The Court of Appeal also noted that Justice Abang “unilaterally” raised issues that were not included by the plaintiffs, an action it said amounted to “a violent attitudinal disposition to the rule of law”.
Besides, the Appeal Court held that the primary election that was conducted by the state chapter of the PDP loyal to Sheriff, which produced Ibrahim, was a nullity, stressing that the law was very clear on which organ of a political party should conduct governorship primary elections.
“It is worth reiterating at this point that any primary election by a state chapter of a party, be it the PDP or any other party, is undoubtedly, in the eye of the law, an illegal contraption that carries with it no legal or equitable right at all. It is in its entirety a nullity,” the Appeal Court held.
Prior to the delivery of the judgement, Justice Saulawa had said that the panel was at a time “subjected to intimation and brow-beating by the counsel to the respondents”.
“Most regrettably, the respondents have deemed it expedient to shoot themselves on the foot. Instead of adhering to the wise counsel of the court to file their brief within the time limit, even the extra day that was granted to them, they refused to do so.
“The consequences of the respondents by failing to file their brief by virtue of Order 18 of the Court of Appeal Rules is very obvious and we have made it clear in our judgment,” he said.
Justice Saulawa noted that instead of filing their brief of argument, the respondents insisted that the appellate court had lost its jurisdiction to entertain Jegede’s suit by virtue of the appeal they lodged at the Supreme Court.
He held: “I have most critically appraised the preliminary objection by Nwofor (SAN) and I found that it is most grossly lacking in merit and it is accordingly dismissed.
“Having effectively dealt with the preliminary objection, I now proceed to determine the appeal on its merit.”
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