Hon. Gabriel Torwua Suswam V. Sen. Daniel I. Saror & Ors (2012)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report – COURT OF APPEAL

M. B. DONGBAN-MENSEM, J.C.A (Delivering the Leading Judgment)

The facts which gave rise to this appeal are as stated @ page 2 of the Appellants brief as follows:-

This is on appeal against the Ruling of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, Makurdi delivered on the 8th day of December, 2011.

The Appellant herein was the 1st Respondent at the trial Tribunal. The 1st and 2nd Respondents in this appeal ore the Petitioners of the trial Tribunal. The 3rd Respondent herein is the 2nd Respondent of the lower Court while the 4th, 5th & 6th Respondent herein are the 4th, 5th & 6th Respondents respectively of the lower Court. The parties to this appeal will be referred to in this brief as designated in the heading of this brief of argument.

On 26th day of April, 2011 the 4th Respondent conducted Governorship Election in Benue State and other States in Nigeria. The Appellant was sponsored by the 3rd Respondent as its Governorship candidate while the 2nd Respondent sponsored the 1st Respondent as its Governorship candidate.

The Appellant won the Governorship Election and was declared and returned winner of the said election on 27th April, 2011 by the 4th Respondent.

The 1st and 2nd Respondents were not satisfied with the outcome of the election and filed a petition at the trial Tribunal.

Upon being served with the 1st and 2nd Respondent’s Petition, the Appellant filed his Reply to the Petition dated and filed on 14/6/2011. The Appellant in his Reply to the Petition and by motion on notice raised a preliminary objection challenging the competence of the Petition and the jurisdiction of the trial Tribunal to entertain the petition. The 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Respondents all had similar preliminary objections against the petition. On the 8/08/11, the preliminary objections were argued and the trial Tribunal delivered its ruling on 11/08/11 dismissing the petition.

The 1st and 2nd Respondents being dissatisfied with the ruling of the trial Tribunal dated 11/08/17 appealed to the Court of Appeal. On the 29th day of September, 2011 the Court of Appeal delivered the judgment, allowing the appeal and setting aside the decision of the trial Tribunal.

Dissatisfied with the judgment of the Court of the Appeal, the 1st Respondent appealed to the Supreme Court which affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeal and ordered that the petition be heard on the merits.

At the resumed sitting of the new panel of the Tribunal, the Appellant applied that the petition be dismissed on the ground that it has lapsed by the operation of section 285(6) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The trial Tribunal heard the Appellant’s application and dismissed some. This appeal is against the decision of the Governorship Election Tribunal Benue State dated 8th December, 2011 in Petition No. GET/BN/03/2011 wherein the Appellant being the 1st Respondent in the petition had applied to the Tribunal to dismiss the petition on the ground that it had become statute barred. See pages 234 to 241 of the record of appeal. The petition was filed on the 17th day of May, 2011. See Pages 1 to 55 of the record. Section 285(6) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) provides that the Tribunal shall deliver its final judgment in the election petition not more than 180 days from the date of filing of the petition. Indeed the exact wordings of Section 285(6) of the Constitution read as follows:

“285(6) An election tribunal shall deliver its judgment in writing within 180 days from the date of the filing of the petition”

(emphasis supplied)

A computation of 190 days “from” the 17th day of May, 2011 with that date inclusive actually gave the petition a life span not beyond the 12th day of November, 2011.