The Supreme Court,yesterday, slated tomorrow (Thursday) to deliver judgment on two separate appeals seeking to sack Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State from office.

A seven-man panel of justices of the apex court, led by Justice Walter Onnoghen, fixed the date after they heard reasons from candidates of Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, in the August 27, 2012 election, Chief Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Olusola Oke, on why the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, should be compelled to conduct a fresh election in Ondo State.

Sequel to an application by counsel to Governor Mimiko, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, the Supreme Court struck out the name of ACN from the matter on the premise that it had gone into extinction, having been subsumed into the newly registered All Progressives Congress, APC.

After the case was called up for hearing yesterday, Olanipekun, relying on the provision of Order 8 Rule 9 sub Rule 2 of the apex court procedure rules, as well as on section 124(1) of the Evidence Act, urged the court to take judicial notice that the second appellant in the matter, ACN, “is dead”.

“It is a notorious fact that the second appellant has become extinct, it is dead! There is no political party in Nigeria today known as ACN. We urge your lordships, pursuant to the rules of this court, to strike out the name of the second appellant from this matter,” Olanipekun submitted.

Similarly, counsel to the Labour Party, Mr Yusuf Ali, SAN, and that of INEC, Mr Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, maintained that ACN threw away its right of appeal when it decided to discard its identity and enter into merger to become APC.

Though counsel to the defunct ACN, Mr Wole Aina, initially insisted that the respondents failed to adduce any evidence with which to convince the court that the party was no longer in existence, he, however, subsequently pleaded the apex court panel to use APC and substitute the name of his client in the appeal, a prayer that was refused.
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INEC further relied on the provisions of paragraph 14(1) (2) of the First Schedule to the Electoral Act, amended, and contended that ACN cannot be substituted with APC, noting that such action would amount to an amendment of the main appeal.

Counsel to the ACN, Aina, insisted that Section 97 of the Electoral Act and Section 109(1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution, allowed a person elected under merged political parties to still retain his seat, saying such right should inure to his client in the instant case. In their ruling, the apex court panel refused the application for substitution.

According to Justice Onnoghen, “We have carefully gone through the provision of the sections of the constitution and schedule cited by parties; we are of the view that reliance of the appellant on Section 109(1) (g) and 97 of the Electoral Act does not avail to the appellant as the section deals with candidates in an election and not the party.”


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