Appeal Court Reverses Tribunal Ruling, Restores A A Sule’s Victory At Polls
The Court of Appeal seating in Abuja has reversed the ruling of the Election Petition Tribunal that nullified the election of Governor Abdullahi Sule of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in favour of David Emmanuel Ombugadu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Delivering the judgment on Thursday (November 23, 2023) in Abuja, Chairman of the three-man panel, Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam said the Tribunal erred in its ruling as it denied Abdullahi Sule his right to fair hearing.
The Court also held that Ombugadu failed to prove his allegation of overvoting in favour of Sule.
Referencing Section 285(5) of the Nigerian constitution, and Section 132(7) of the Electoral Act 2022, and Paragraphs 4(5) (6) and 14(2) of the First Schedule to the Electoral Act, the appellate court held that a petition must be filed alongside every written statement on oath within 21 days from the date of an election.
“Where a trial court admitted and acted on illegally inadmissible evidence, it is the duty of the appellate court to ensure that such illegally inadmissible evidence is expunged.
“A court of law is only allowed to act on legally admissible evidence. If documents are unlawfully allowed by a trial court, the appellate court is duty-bound to exclude the documents and discountenance the evidence,” Mr Onyemenam said of witnesses’ statements oath that was tendered by Mr Ombugadu at the tribunal.”
Consequently, the justice struck out all the evidence and exhibits that were tendered before the tribunal by Mr Ombugadu’s eight witnesses.
The Appeal Court then dismissed the lower court’s majority decision but upheld the dissenting judgement, which had affirmed Mr Sule’s victory at the polls.