Since the conclusion of the 2023 general elections, attention has shifted to the judiciary saddled with the responsibility of handling petitions arising from the polls.
In this article, Parallel Facts takes a look at the state governors who have been sacked by courts, why they were sacked, those affirmed as well as those that have been reinstated so far.
Major losers
• Abba Kabir Yusuf
In 2022, Abba Yusuf, fondly called Kwankwaso’s godson moved from the Peoples Democratic Party to the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and was re-anointed by Kwankwaso to challenge Nasir Yusuf Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 Kano governorship election. He was declared winner on 20 March 2023 and was issued his certificate of return on 29 March 2023 by the Independence.
The NNPP received 1,019,602 votes to defeat APC’s Nasir Gawuna who polled 890,705 votes.
The Election Petitions Tribunal, under the leadership of Justice Oluyemi Osadebay, invalidated the election of Governor Yusuf, declaring 165,663 votes garnered by the latter as invalid. The ballot papers for the 165,663 votes were not signed or stamped, according to the lead judge, and thus were invalid. The court ordered that Yusuf’s certificate of return be revoked and that a fresh one be issued to Gawuna. The Court of Appeal in Abuja also upheld the tribunal’s decision. Gov Yusuf has, however, vowed to reclaim his mandate at the Supreme Court. All eyes on the judiciary!
• Dauda Lawal
Dauda Lawal of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was declared the winner of the Zamfara State governorship election in 2023 after defeating the incumbent governor, Bello Matawalle of the APC.
Displeased by the outcome of the poll, Matawalle filed a case at the tribunal contesting the results of the governorship election on March 18, but it was dismissed due to lack of merit.
However, the Court of Appeal in its verdict on Thursday, November 16, declared the election inconclusive, ordering INEC to hold new elections in two local government areas of the State.
According to the appellate court, Matawalle, who is currently the Minister of State for Defence, was able to establish Lawal’s invalid election.
Gov Lawal, in a statement by his spokesperson, Sulaiman Idris, said his legal team was reviewing the judgment before taking the next necessary action.
• Caleb Mutfwang
The Court of Appeal in Abuja has overturned the election of Caleb Muftwang of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the governor of Plateau and declared Nentawe Goshwe of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the legitimate winner.
The court, in a unanimous judgement delivered by a three-man panel on Sunday, ruled that Muftwang was not duly nominated by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in accordance with Section 285(2) of the Nigerian Constitution.
The court in 2023 upheld the appeal filed by Goshwe, who challenged the eligibility of Muftwang as the PDP candidate.
The court held that the issue of qualification was a pre and post-election matter that could be determined by Section 177(c) of the Nigerian Constitution and Sections 80 and 82 of the Electoral Act, 2022.
The court agreed with Goshwe that the PDP failed to obey the order of the Plateau State High Court in Jos in suit no: PLD/J304/2020, which directed the party to conduct valid ward, local government and state congresses before nominating its candidates for the various elective posts. The court also noted that the PDP did not comply with the order of the Court of Appeal in CA/J1/93/2021, which affirmed the lower court’s order.
The court, therefore, set aside the verdict of the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, which dismissed Goshwe’s petition for being incompetent and lacking merit. The court faulted the tribunal for relying on expunged witnesses’ statements to reject Goshwe’s appeal and said the tribunal’s judgement was “highly inconsistent and breach of fair hearing”.
The court also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Gov Muftwang and issue a fresh one to APC’s Goshwe.
The court also awarded N500,000 as cost in favour of Goshwe. A three-member panel of the tribunal headed by Justice R. Irele-Ifijeh, in a unanimous decision, dismissed the petition of Goshwe for lacking merit.
The three-member panel of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Elfrieda Williams-Dawodu ruled on Sunday, November 19, that the governor was not legitimately sponsored by the PDP for the election, citing Section 177 of the Constitution.
The judge pointed out that the PDP failed to adhere to a standing High Court order, which mandated the party to organise a legitimate party congress before endorsing candidates for the governorship and other positions.
Mutfwang, who has directed his legal team to submit an appeal to the Supreme Court, expressed hope that the mandate bestowed upon him by the people of the state would be reinstated by the Supreme Court.
Winners
• Abdullahi Sule
The Court of Appeal in Abuja has overturned the controversial dismissal of Nasarawa Governor, Abdullahi Sule, by the State Election Petitions Tribunal.
The Appellate Court, led by Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam, declared that the Tribunal, headed by Ezekiel Ajayi, committed a serious error in its decision.
The Tribunal’s reliance on witness statements not front-loaded as required by law was deemed unjust, leading to the erroneous nullification of the governor’s election.
Justice Onyemenam emphasised that the Tribunal was legally obligated to consider witness statements filed along with the petition or front-loaded within the stipulated 21 days.
The Court ruled that any amendment to a petition outside this timeframe, as done by the Tribunal, is unlawful.
Crucially, the Court deemed the statements used by the Tribunal as a product of illegality, lacking probate value for a lawful Court to act upon.
The Court dismissed the over-voting allegations that were central to annulling the election, stating that they were not substantiated by law.
READ ALSO: FG Establishes Education Databank For Record Keeping
Addressing jurisdictional issues, the Court ruled that the Tribunal unlawfully ignored the governor’s raised concerns, rendering the petition by the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) governorship candidate null and invalid.
Justice Onyemenam highlighted that the denial of a fair hearing against the governor was fatal, rendering all Tribunal decisions invalid.
In a sweeping decision, the Court of Appeal reversed all orders against Governor Sule and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The ruling reaffirms Sule as the lawful governor of Nasarawa.
INEC had declared Sule the winner of the governorship election, citing his total of 347,209 votes against his closest opponent, David Emmanuel Ombugadu, who secured 283,016 votes.
The tribunal’s initial decision on October 2 had nullified Sule’s victory, upholding Ombugadu as the winner in a split decision. However, with the recent Court of Appeal ruling, Governor Abdullahi Sule’s mandate has been restored, concluding a protracted legal battle.
• Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Thursday affirmed the election of the Gombe Governor, Inuwa Yahaya.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared Yahaya the winner of the governorship election after scoring 342,821 votes to beat his closest rival Jibrin Barde of the Peoples Democratic Party who polled 233,131 votes.
Displeased with the outcome of the election, the PDP alleged that Yahaya was not re-elected by a majority of lawful votes.
The party also alleged that multiple thumb printing and ballot box stuffing was carried out across various polling units in nine out of the 11 local government areas of the state to favour Yahaya.
But the state governorship election petition tribunal dismissed the petitions filed by the party and Barde.
The three-man panel headed by Justice S.B. Belgore struck out the matter, saying that it was a pre-election issue.
The tribunal declared that the deputy governor met the minimum requirement to run in the election.
• Sanwo-Olu
The Appeal Court sitting in Lagos also affirmed the tribunal’s verdict on the re-election of Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the All Progressive Congress (APC) as the Governor of the State.
The judgment was delivered by a three-man panel – Justice Yargata Nimpa, Justice Samuel Bola, and Justice Paul Bassey, on Wednesday, November 22.
The court unanimously dismissed the appeal of the Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate in the March 18, 2023, governorship election, Azeez Adediran, for lack of merit.
Similarly, the Appeal Court also dismissed the appeal filed by the Labour Party and its governorship candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, challenging the re-election of Sanwo-Olu and his deputy.
Rhodes-Vivour had on October 7, 2023, filed 21 grounds of appeal challenging the decision of the State Governorship Tribunal which upheld Sanwo-Olu’s reelection but met rebuff at the higher court.
Other governors who have won their Appeal Court cases so far include: Umo Eno (Akwa Ibom); Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia (Benue); Uba Sani (Kaduna); Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), amongst others. #2023