Amere Gafaru Akintayo V. George Jolaoye & Ors. (2010)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report – COURT OF APPEAL

SIDI DAUDA BAGE, J.C.A (Delivering the Leading Judgment)

This is an appeal by the Appellant who was the Petitioner at the Governorship/National Assembly and Legislative Houses Election Petition Tribunal, Osun State, sitting at Osogbo, in Petition No. NA/EPT/OS/2/2007 against the judgment of the Tribunal Coram:- Honourable Justices, T. D. Naron, S. Mohammed, J. N. Akpughunum, A. T. Badamasi, J. E. Ekanem, delivered on the 30th of May, 2008, wherein the honourable Tribunal dismissed the petition as lacking in merit.

The facts leading up to this appeal are briefly set out follows:-

“Elections were conducted into the National Assembly on the 21st of April, 2007. The Appellant, a member of the Action Congress (A.C.), contested the seat for Ayedire/Iwo/Ola-Oluwa Constituency. At the conclusion of the election, the 3rd to 253rd Respondents declared the 1st Respondent who was the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (P.D.P.) the winner. The Appellant was dissatisfied with the outcome of the election and filed a petition dated the 21st of May, 2007 before the Tribunal seeking the nullification of said election and make an order for a re-run of said election for substantial non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act. The Petitioner pleads that, he contested the election on the platform of the Action Congress (A.C.) and has the right to be returned as having been duly elected.”

The Appellant filed a Notice of Appeal dated the 17th of June, 2008 containing sixteen (16) Grounds of Appeal, from which the learned Counsel distilled twelve (12) Issues for determination of the Court. Learned Counsel to the 1st and 2nd Respondents in their Brief of Argument, dated 14th January, 2010, filed same day, but deemed properly filed on the 15 February, 2010, formulated seven (7) Issues for determination. Learned Counsel to the 253rd and 254th Respondents formulated one (1) Issue for determination.

In the Brief of Argument dated 9th of November, 2009 filed same day, but deemed properly filed on the 19th of April 2010, the Appellant formulated the following twelve (12) Issues for determination as follows:-

(1) “Whether the learned Tribunal gave sufficient consideration to the evidence of the Petitioner in its judgment. Relates to Ground 1.

(2) Whether there was any evidence before the learned Tribunal to justify its holding that the evidence of the Petitioner’s witnesses was hearsay or improbable evidence. Relates to Ground 2.

(3) Whether from the circumstances of the case, PW1-PW3 being party agents is not amongst the people legally entitled to give evidence of what happened at the polling units. Relates to Ground 3.

(4) Whether the Petitioner did not plead those facts in respect of which the learned Tribunal held that the evidence of his witnesses went to no issue. Relates to Ground 4.

(5) Whether the Petitioner failed to plead the defects in the electoral material tendered as Exhibits “24” and “25/. Relates to Ground 5.

(6) Whether Certified True Copies of public documents tendered from the bar are ipso facto unreliable. Relates to Grounds 6 and 10.

(7) Whether the learned Tribunal can assess the evidence of the Respondents’ witnesses without evaluating them. Relates to Ground 7.

(8) Whether considering the evidence both oral and documentary led by the Appellant at the learned Tribunal, the Appellant proved his case that the 1st Respondent was not elected by the majority of lawful votes cast at the election. Relates to Ground 8.