₦airaland Forum

senatordave1:
Which useless evidence? Pray that the appeal court do not review his waec result and disqualify the clown

senatordave1:
Did ihedioha fulfill the 2/3 requirement ? Anyway the adamawa polls will also be canceled.

senatordave1:
Fake engineer

Johnnyessence:
yes , ondo state too will be fully back to pdp.

senatordave1:
Your father i guess

Johnnyessence:
Fintiri is a goal .Another victory for pdp loading .

senatordave1:
The governor should quickly appeal.even if he doesn't,the election will be cancelled and a new one over the exclusion of mrdp

midolian:
Please, can someone remind me what Onnoghen claimed he forgot to declare?

ritababe:
How many goals do we need to qualify?

fairfora:
are you saying 1,014,447 votes of the pdp as at yesterday has suddenly reduced in figure? You must be joking

kahal29:
Ghen Ghen

MORNDEW:
Adeleke Don't celebrate yet, Dakuku, and Mama Taraba also won at the tribunal
I was walking home from work when a friend called me with joyous tone that the tribunal has declared the pdp candidate for Osun Gubernatorial election winner. I asked what was the celebration all about he said he is now the governor na. I just called him "olodo and dropped the call.

Tribunal judgements since election cases gets to the Supreme Court has become mere academic exercise. After the 2015 governorship election, many candidates who lost the election went to court. Yours truly followed the cases of the then Rivers State Apc governorship candidate, Dr. Dakuku Adol Peterside and Taraba State governorship candidate of the Apc Mrs Aisha Alhassan, (Mama Taraba).

These candidates won at the tribunal and the court of appeal but lost at the apex court. So what's the celebration all about? Adeleke and the PDP should not celebrate yet until this matter gets to the Supreme Court.
https://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/12/breaking-appeal-court-sacks-gov-wike-orders-fresh-election-in-rivers/
http://dailypost.ng/2015/11/07/breaking-tribunal-nullifies-governor-ishakus-election-declares-mama-taraba-winner/

So I wonder the need for this half celebration that might be shortlived.
People should understand intrigues of legal battles before rushing to celebrate.
Let's keep our fingers crossed.
Princewill Chimereze
Writer, public affairs analyst and social commentator.

https://enlightennigeria..com/2019/03/adeleke-dont-celebrate-yet-dakuku-and.html

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=780447358996590&id=248706512170680&__tn__=%2AW-R#footer_action_list

kahal29:
In a split decision of 2:1, the Osun State elections petition tribunal declared Adeleke the winner of Osun State election governorship election held last year.

The two tribunal members in their lead judgement held that INEC was wrong to have declared the election inconclusive and a such there was no need for the supplementary election.

However it is my respected view that the tribunal erred in declaring the supplementary election null and void. This is because inec's power to declare an election inconclusive and also conduct a supplementary election has been upheld in the Supreme Court judgement between James Faleke and INEC 2016.

Part of the judgement is reproduced below:

According to Justice KUDIRAT MOTONMORI OLATOKUNBO KEKERE-EKUN, JSC

It is evident that a declaration as to who received the highest number of votes cast and who should be declared elected is to be made by the appropriate Returning Officer after the results have been ascertained by counting the votes cast for each candidate.

Section 133(1) of the Electoral Act also provides that the only venue to ventilate a complaint of undue election or undue return at an election is before a competent Court or Tribunal in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution or Act.

In effect, I agree with the finding of the court below that contrary to the submission of learned senior counsel for the appellant, Sections 179(2) and 181(1) of the Constitution are not self-executing. There must be a declaration or return of a candidate as the winner of an election before the sections become applicable. I agree entirely with learned senior counsel for the 1st respondent that to hold otherwise would lead to a situation where anyone could declare himself as the deemed winner of an election, which would certainly lead to anarchy. The electorate is also entitled to have the results of the election formally declared by an unbiased umpire.

This brings me to the next consideration, which is, whether the appellant and the late Prince Audu met the requirements of Section 179(2) of the Constitution. The lower court found, and I entirely agree that there was no declaration or return of any of the candidates who participated in the election of 21/11/2015 as winners having regard to the declaration of INEC that the election was inconclusive.

That declaration was made based on the provisions of Chapter 3 paragraph 3.11, step 14 of INEC’s Manual for Election Officials. The argument of learned senior counsel for the appellant is that the provisions of the Manual cannot be employed to amend or augment the provisions of the Constitution. It is not disputed that pursuant to Section 160(1) of the Constitution, INEC has the constitutional power to regulate its own procedure or confer powers and impose duties on its Officers for the purpose of discharging its functions. Sections 73 and 153 of the Electoral Act contain similar provisions to ensure the proper discharge of its functions. Section 73 empowers the Commission to publish in the Gazette, guidelines for elections "which shall make provisions for the step by step recording of the poll in the electoral forms as may be prescribed.... "while Section 153 empowers the Commission to issue regulations, guidelines or manuals for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions of the Electoral Act and for its administration. I agree with the finding of the lower court at page 1608 of the record that the above provisions give statutory backing to the Manual as a subsidiary legislation and that where it is found to be relevant, its provisions must be invoked, applied and enforced.

The relevance of INEC's Manual for Electoral Officers in the proper conduct of elections was acknowledged by this Court in the case of C.P.C Vs INEC (2011) LPELR – 8257 (SC) AT PAGES 54 – 55 F – B per Adekeye, JSC thus:

"By force of law the Independent National Electoral Commission has the duty of conducting elections. Besides the constitutional provisions, it is guided by the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) and the Election Guidelines and Manual issued for its officials in accordance with the Act. These documents embody all steps to comply with in the conduct of a free, fair and hitch free election."

(Emphasis mine)

Having discovered electoral malpractices in 91 polling units in the State, it was proper for the 1st respondent to consult and apply the provisions of its Manual to determine the next course of action in the circumstances. I do not agree with Chief Olanipekun, SAN, with due respect that resort to its manual in the circumstances amounted to a flagrant disregard of the supremacy of the constitutional provisions as contained in Section 179(2).

Chapter 3 paragraph 3.11, step 14 of the Manual for Election Officials (updated version) at page 325 of Volume 1 of the record provides:

3.11: Final Collation and Declaration of Governorship Election Results at State Level:

The State Collation/Returning Officer for the Governorship shall:

Step 14: "Where the margin of win between the two leading candidates is not in excess of the total number of registered voters of the polling unit(s) where elections were cancelled or not held, decline to make a return until another poll has taken place in the affected polling unit(s) and the results incorporated into a new Form EC8D and subsequently recorded into a new form EC8E for Declaration and Return." (Emphasis mine)

The provision is clear and straight forward and did not require a foray into any other provisions in the Manual for it to be effected. There is no dispute as to the fact that the margin between the votes scored by the late Prince Audu and the appellant on the one hand and Capt. Wada and Arch. Awoniyi, on the other was 41,619, which was less than the total number of registered voters in the 91 polling units where votes were cancelled.

I therefore agree with the court below that the 1st respondent was correct to have declared the election inconclusive on the basis of the number of registered voters in the 91 affected polling units. Having regard to the clear provisions of the Election Manual, it would have been wrong for any electoral official to base his decision on any other consideration, such as the number of registered voters who had collected their PVCs,or the geographical spread of the votes already cast.

Clear and unambiguous provisions must be given their natural and ordinary meaning. Neither the court nor learned counsel is entitled to read into a provision what it does not contain.


https://nigerialii.org/ng/judgment/supreme-court/2016/84

The Osun State Governorship Election Pet‎ition Tribunal sitting in Abuja has declared as winner Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate in the last year’s governorship election in the state, Ademola Adeleke.

It held that the All Progressives Congress and its candidate, Gboyega Oyetola was not validly returned.

TheTrueSeeker:
Who's the 3rd Respondent in the case?

JoanHicks:
Especially the BBQ dude, he was crying the thing for head