Mrs. Margarey Okadigbo V. Prince John Okechukwu Emeka & Ors (2012)

LAWGLOBAL HUB Lead Judgment Report

M. CHUKWUMA-ENEH, J.S.C.

This appeal has arisen from the decision of the Court of Appeal Enugu Judicial Division, sitting as Election Appeal Tribunal of Anambra State holden at Awka in which the appellant as the petitioner has prayed for the following reliefs:

“1. An order disqualifying the candidature of the 1st respondent as candidate for the April 9th election into Anambra-North Senatorial District as not having been sponsored by any political party (underlining supplied for emphasis).

2. An order returning the petitioner as the elected candidate in the April 9th Senatorial Election having polled the majority of lawful votes cast at the said election.
3. An order directing the 3rd respondent to issue Certificate of Return to the petitioner being the winner of the said election.”

The appellant has lost in both the two lower courts and has now appealed to this court and has maintained the same case here as in the lower courts. The tribunal in its Ruling delivered on 29th June 2011 has held as follows:

“Having reached a finding:-

(1) That this tribunal lacks jurisdiction to entertain this petition as it is predicated on pre-election issues, and

(2) That the petitioner has no locus standi to present and maintain this petition, the preliminary objection succeeds and we accordingly order that this petition be and is hereby struck out.”

In the same vein the lower court in its judgment delivered on 19/8/2011 has come to this important conclusion in affirming the decision of the trial Tribunal in these words:

“In the instant case, there was no final and subsisting judgment of a court in favour of the appellant but an ex parte order meant to last momentarily pending the determination of the substantive application.

The subsequent order of the Federal High Court, Awka made on 25/3/2011 urged parties to maintain the status quo until the matter is disposed of. There is nothing before this court to show that the matter has been disposed of on the merit meaning that it is perhaps still pending (underlining supplied). The issue in contention thus remains a pre-election matter. The appellant is free to proceed with the matter at the Federal High Court including perhaps contempt proceedings for a breach of the exparte order where it is found necessary but not in an Election Petition Tribunal. In the circumstances I hold that the trial tribunal was right in finding that it lacks jurisdiction to entertain the appellant’s petition because it is predicted on pre-election issues.

On the issue of locus standi, it is my humble view that addressing the issue now will constitute an academic exercise having agreed with the trial tribunal that it lacked jurisdiction to even look into the petition having found that it is a pre-election matter. From the totality of the above, I hold that this appeal lacks merit and is hereby dismissed. The Ruling of the trial tribunal delivered on 29/6/2011 is hereby affirmed.”

The above abstracts of the two lower courts speak for themselves. I have however, positioned these findings as concurrent findings in this matter and the onus is on the appellant to show their perversity to succeed and specifically to bring to the fore the central questions in this appeal. The appellant instead of going back to continue to its final conclusion the matter of her candidacy nomination and sponsorship still pending at the Federal High Court Awka has chosen the course of the instant appeal before this court. Even as appellant’s Counsel has in his submission as at p.360 LL.7-10 of the record(s) which has not been challenged stated thus;

“…. that the issue was not that the appellant wanted the tribunal to declare her a candidate of the party but rather that she was already a candidate by the decision of the Federal High Court, Awka. Therefore, all the votes cast for PDP in the election should be attributed to her and thus declared winner of the election with the 60,788 votes awarded to her and not the 1st respondent… that in so far as the Federal High Court had decided that the appellant was the candidate in the Election, that decision had automatically made her a candidate in the election thus conferring her with the locus standi to present the petition.”

Being aggrieved by the decision of the lower court the appellant in her brief of argument filed on 27/9/2011 in this matter has raised a sole issue for determination as follows: