Barrister Peter O. Madubueze V. Comrade Tony Nwoye & Ors (2015)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report – COURT OF APPEAL

EMMANUEL AKOMAYE AGIM, J.C.A. :(Delivering the Leading Judgment)

The general election to the office of member of the House of Representatives for Anambra East/Anambra West Federal constituency held on 28-3-2015. 12 candidates contested the election. The appellant contested the election on the platform of the 2nd respondent. The 1st respondent contested the election as the candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, a registered Political Party in Nigeria.

At the conclusion of the election, the appellant was declared to have the majority of lawful votes cast in the election (19,065 votes), declared the winner of the election and returned elected as member representing Anambra East/Anambra West Federal constituency in the House of Representatives. The 1st respondent who was declared to have secured 16,965 lawful votes, coming second after the appellant, was dissatisfied with the declared result of the election.

On 17-4-2015, the 1st respondent filed an election petition in the Anambra State National and State House of Assembly Election Tribunal commencing petition No. EPT/AWK/HR/09/2015 on the sole ground that the appellant was not duly

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elected by majority of lawful votes cast at election. The reliefs sought are stated in Paragraph D of the petition thusly-

1. An Order adding 5,510 votes from six polling units in Nsugbe ward 1 and two polling units in Nsugbe ward II of Anambra East LGA to the total score of the petitioner at the election wrongfully excluded from the votes credited to him, and adding 43 votes from the same polling units to the total score credited to the 1st respondent also wrongfully excluded such that the total score of the petitioner and 1st respondent are 22,475 and 19,108 respectively.
2. A declaration that the 1st respondent Barrister Peter O. Madubueze did not score the majority of lawful votes cast in the election held on the 28th day of March, 2015 for the Anambra East/Anambra West Federal Constituency of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and was wrongly returned and declared elected.
3. An Order setting aside the return of the 1st Respondent in the said election.
4. An Order directing and compelling the withdrawal of Certificate of Return issued to the 1st respondent.
5. A

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Declaration that the Petitioner scored the majority of lawful votes cast in the general election held on the 28th day of March, 2015 for the Anambra East/Anambra West Federal Constituency of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and ought to have been returned as winner and declared elected.

6 An Order declaring the Petitioner who scored the majority of lawful vote cast at the election winner and returning him as duly elected..

7. An Order directing INEC to issue Certificate of return to the petitioner as the person elected and returned to represent the Anambra East/Anambra West Federal Constituency of the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

All the respondents filed replies to the petition. The petitioner filed a reply to the 1st respondent?s reply and 2nd respondent?s reply.

?The 1st respondent adduced evidence in support of his petition through 9 witnesses. The respondents to the petition adduced evidence in support of their case through 10 witnesses. After the conclusion of evidence by all parties and following the filing, exchange and adoption of

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written final addresses by all parties, the Tribunal on 12-10-2015 rendered its judgment, holding that the petitioner proved his entitlement to the reliefs claimed for in the petition and granted the reliefs thusly-

1. It is hereby ordered that 2935 votes from 6 polling units in Nsugbe ward 1 of Anambra East Local Government Area to the total score of the petitioner wrongfully excluded from the votes credited to him, and adding 30 votes from the same polling units to the total score credited to the 1st respondent also wrongfully excluded such that the total score of the petitioner and the 1st respondent are 19,900 and 19108 respectively.
2. It is hereby declared that the 1st respondent Barrister Peter O. Madubueze did not score the majority of lawful votes cast in the election held on the 28th of March, 2015 for the Anambra East/West Federal Constituency of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and was wrongly returned and declared as elected.
3. The return of the 1st respondent in this election is hereby set aside.
4. It is hereby ordered that the Certificate of return issued to the 1st

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