Aliyu Bello Mohammed Sambo & Anor V. Mohammed Adamu Aliero & Ors (2009)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report

MUSA DATTIJO MUHAMMAD, J.C.A.

Two petitions, KB/EPT/SEN/2/2007 and KB/EPT/SEN/7/2007 were presented before the Kebbi State National Assembly, Governorship and Legislative Houses Election Petition Tribunal sitting at Birnin Kebbi challenging the return of Mohammed Adamu Aliero who had been fielded by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to contest the election for the Kebbi Central Senatorial District seat held on 21st April 2007. The Petitioners alleged inter alia that Mohammed Adamu Aliero who at the end of the election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) was declared and returned the winner of the election, was not qualified to contest the election. Aggrieved by the declaration and return, Aliyu Bello Mohammed and Alhaji Abubakar Atiku Bunu, the – respective candidates of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP) and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in the very election, challenged the declaration and return in their separate petitions. Their sponsors were co-petitioners.

The two petitions are articulated on three grounds each with two grounds being common to both petitions. The two grounds common to the petitions are:-

(i) That the 1st Respondent was at the time of the election not qualified to contest the election and

(ii) That the election was invalid by reason of corrupt practices and or non compliance with the mandatory provisions of the Electoral Act, 2006.

Whereas the third ground in petition No KB/EPT/SEN/2/07 avers that 1st Respondent was not validly nominated to contest the election, the petitioners in No. KB/EPT/SEN/7/07 in their third ground claim that the 1st Respondent was not duly elected by a majority of lawful votes cast at the election.

In the particulars in support of their common grounds it is alleged that there was invalid or improper merger between the Kebbi State chapter of the ANPP and the Kebbi State chapter of the PDP that led, contrary to the provisions of the Electoral Act, to the improper substitution of the lawfully nominated and sponsored candidate of the PDP with the 1st Respondent; that at the time of the substitution, the 1st Respondent was the candidate sponsored by the ANPP and the candidature was persisting. In petition No. KB.EPT/SEN/7/2007 it is further averred that the PDP had not given congent and verifiable reasons for the substitution of its candidate with Mohammed Adamu Aliero; that 1st Respondent’s election was also marred by thuggery, violence, snatching and or stuffing of ballot boxes, bribery, undue influence and other corrupt practices.

Petition NO. KB/EPT/SEN/2/2007 concluded by praying the tribunal to void 1st Respondent’s election and order a fresh election. The petitioners in petition No. KB/EPT/SEN/7/2007 made the same prayers and in the alternative sought a declaration that the 2nd petitioner therein, Abubakar Atiku Bunu, being the lawfully Elected candidate be so returned. The Respondents joined issues with the petitioners in their replies to the two petitions. 1st and 2nd Respondents particularly averred that 1st Respondent was validly nominated as a candidate of the 2nd Respondent and with the overwhelming support of the latter’s members; that the nomination conforms with the provisions of the Electoral Act as well as the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; that there was neither a merger between the Kebbi State chapters of the PDP and the ANPP nor was 1st Respondent’s nomination the product of such merger. 1st and 2nd Respondents were emphatic that 1st Respondent had never been presented as ANPP’s candidate for the 21/4/01 election and that the election was conducted in substantial compliance with both the electoral Act and the Constitution. Being a gross abuse of the Tribunal’s processes, the 1st and 2nd Respondents prayed the tribunal for the dismissal of the petition.

The 3rd – 5th Respondents in their reply to the allegations in petition No. KB/EPT/SEN/2/01 averred to similar defences as those made by the 1st and 2nd respondents. Additionally, the 3rd -124th Respondents in petition No. KB/EPT/SEN/1/01 averred that the petitioners lacked the locus stand to challenge 1st Respondent’s nomination and if they did, the appropriate time to contest the issue was before and not after the election had been concluded and the results announced; The 3rd -124th Respondents denied, paragraph by paragraph, all the allegations of corruption, violence, thuggery, rigging and other malpractices.

With parties pleadings, the preliminary objections raised in the 1st and 2nd Respondents replies to the two petitions as well as the issues formulated by the parties as calling for consideration in the determination of the petitions, the tribunal pursuant to its powers under the election tribunal and Court Practice Directions reduced the issues for determination to three, thus:-

“1. Whether or not having regard to the basis of and facts in support of the grounds of the petition, or any of them, the Tribunal has jurisdiction or is competent to entertain this petition.

2. Whether within the intendment of Section 145 (1) (a) of the Electoral Act and Section 65 (2) (b) of the 1999 Constitution, the 1st Respondent was qualified to contest the election into Kebbi Central Senatorial District held on 21st April, 2007.
3. Whether or not the infractions of the Electoral Act, 2006 as alleged, if established as required by law, constitute substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act 2006.”

At the pre-trial conference the parties agreed that the objections raised by the 1st and 2nd respondents which gave birth to the tribunal’s first issue as reproduced above, be rolled over and determined at the end of the trial of the petitions. It was also agreed that all the statements of witnesses on oath in respect of the petitions be adopted during trial and that the witnesses would not be cross examined. Documents were to be tendered as Exhibits from the bar.

At the end of a full trial of the consolidated petitions, the tribunal in its judgment delivered on 10th October, 2007 dismissed the two petitions having found: both unmeritorious. It consequentially upheld the return of Mohammed Adamu Aliero as the duly elected Senator for Kebbi Central Senatorial District arising from the 21st April, 2007 election.

Being dissatisfied with the decision of the Tribunal, the petitioners separately filed their notices of appeal against the tribunal’s judgment.