How Dino Melaye stormed Appeal Court with tripartite forces challenging tribunal’s judgment

Senator Dino Melaye stormed the Court of Appeal challenging the judgment of the National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal that nullified his election in Kogi West senatorial district being reinforced by two other political forces. Dino was joined in the appeal by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in contention with Smart Adeyemi and the All Progressives Congress (APC).

However, the Abuja division of Court of Appeal after listening to the arguments of counsels to the parties to the suit reserved judgments in the three separate appeals filed before it challenging the nullification of the election of Dino Melaye and ordering of fresh election by the tribunal last month.

Accordingly, the Appeal Court has to contend with three separate appeals brought by the PDP, INEC and Dino Melaye, seeking to upturn the tribunal judgment.

The presiding Judge, Justice Abubakar Datti Yahaya, leading a three-member panel, after listening to final arguments by counsels to all parties, had declared that the date for judgment delivery would be communicated to parties as soon as the appellate court decides on a date.

Counsel to the PDP, represented by Jubrin Okutepa (SAN), had demanded the Court of Appeal to upturn the judgment of the tribunal against Melaye, citing denial of fair hearing and refusal to evaluate the evidence presented during hearing.

The PDP counsel argued that the tribunal failed to evaluate the testimonies of its witnesses while no reference was made to all the documentary evidence presented before the tribunal made its wrong conclusion of over voting, particularly, when the petitioner did not tender voter register.

PDP protested that the tribunal turned the head of natural justice upside down when it predicated over voting in cancelling the senatorial election on the number of collected permanent voter cards rather than voter register as required by law.

The PDP counsel requested the three-man panel of justices to invoke Section 16 of the Court of Appeal Act and dismiss the petition for lacking in merit.

Counsel to INEC, Kola Olowookere, in the second appeal, requested the Appeal Court to dismiss the allegation of mutilation of the election result and favouring a particular candidate as alleged by the petitioner, Smart Adeyemi, and the APC.

The omission contested that admission of over-voting by the tribunal was wrong and baseless, arguing that the voter register and result of election in 2019 aligned with the result in the disputed area.

INEC complained that the tribunal did not evaluate the exhibits it tendered to prove that there was no over voting, therefore, pleading that the appeal be allowed.

Counsel to Dino Melaye, Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), in the third suit, requested the Court of Appeal to upturn the over-voting judgment of the tribunal, arguing that it was based on hearsay rather than polling units agents’ results.

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The counsel acquainted the three justices that only three witnesses were called by the petitioners, contending that the evidence of the three witnesses based on hearsay cannot justify the cancellation of the senatorial election.

Dr. Ikpeazu also argued that mutilation of result sheet was not substantial because the final result of the senatorial election was endorsed by agents of the candidates and the parties, and that the petitioners failed to establish that the alleged mutilated result substantially affected the final result collation.

Adekunle Otitoju, Counsel to the petitioners, Adeyemi and APC, challenged the arguments of the appellants, pleading that the Appeal Court should dismiss the three appeals because appellants were not denied fair hearing and that the tribunal based its findings on over voting on the report of INEC which comprehensively contained the number of collected voter cards unit by unit.

Otitoju contended that INEC breached an order of the Federal High Court to the effect that the senatorial election result must be collated and announced in Kabba, the senatorial district headquarters and not in Lokoja as INEC did.

Adeyemi and APC claimed that while their agents were in Kabba waiting for collation of result, the INEC officials and agents of the appellants colluded and secretly moved the result collation to Lokoja where the result sheets were allegedly mutilated to favour Melaye.

Adeyemi and APC maintained that mutilation of results, dated February 25 instead of February 23, was so apparent and that over-voting was so established to the tune of over 48,000 votes.

They, accordingly, demanded the appeal court to dismiss the suits and allow the judgment of the tribunal to stand.