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Conflicting judgments:This is Judicial Confusion –Benue
ACN
Newsdiaryonline Fri Sep 16,2011
Governor Suswam
Updated with court papers below
culled from Saharareporters
The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Benue State chapter, has
reiterated its resolve and determination to pursue its mandate
recovery despite the judicial confusion created this morning by
the conflicting judgments delivered by the Court of Appeal,
Makurdi Division Chaired by Justice M. I. Tsamiya.
In their judgments, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal of
Gabriel Torwua Suswam challenging the ruling of the Tribunal
that allowed Prof Steve Torkuma Ugbah’s motion ex-parte for
pre-trial saying, an application by letter for the issuance of
pre hearing forms will be allowed most especially as paragraph
18(1) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) did not specify the
mode of the application. The same court in the second judgment
in the appeal, upheld the PDP appeal that, Prof Steve Torkuma
Ugbah did not seek leave of the Tribunal before moving their
ex-parte motion and thereby declared the action of the Tribunal
a nullity.
In the ruling, the Court of Appeal relied on the case of Senator
Daniel Saror and we quote
“The 3rd and 4th
Respondents aggrieved, brought a Motion on Notice to set aside
the ex parte Order by the Tribunal on 29th June, 2011
and to dismiss Petition No. GET/BN/03/2011 between Senator
Daniel Saror & Anor. V Gabriel T. Suswam & 4 ors. Appellant’s
motion was heard by the Tribunal on 18th July, 2011
and on 19th July, 2011 the Tribunal dismissed the
application. Being further dissatisfied with the Ruling of
Tribunal delivered on 19th July 2011 the Appellant
filed this Appeal on 1st August 2011. The Appellant’s
Notice of Appeal contains six grounds of Appeal out which ground
5 was abandoned. See pages 304-311 of the Record.”
It can be deduced from the above that, clearly the Court of
Appeal was referring to the case of Senator Daniel Saror which
is still pending before the Court. The ACN petition does not
have any 4th Respondent.
The party is mostly amazed with the comment of the Chairman of
the Court of Appeal Justice Mohammed Ladan Tsamiya that “people
should not go out of the court and say they have given a
conflicting judgment.” This comment has left so much to be
desired since the issue of leave was not canvassed by the PDP at
the lower Tribunal. The court of appeal also struck out the
issue of leave raised by the PDP and still went ahead to enter
judgment on the issue they had discountenanced.
It is also on record and most surprising that, while the PDP is
bent on truncating Prof Steve Torkuma Ugbah’s petition, they are
maximally using the Court of Appeal to achieve this through
methods unknown to law. The PDP withdrew their motion on
jurisdiction before the Tribunal and allowed only Gabriel Suswam
and INEC move theirs, which the Tribunal overruled declaring
that motion ex-parte was enough to invoke pre-trial. It is
therefore surprising that the PDP will appeal against a motion
they did not move and the Court of Appeal will allow it.
It has now become very clear to every Nigerian that, the removal
of Justice Ayo Salami as the President of the Court of Appeal is
to pave way for the manipulation of judges of the court to do
the bidding of the PDP. One would have least expected Justice M.
I. Tsamiya who is a close ally of the President and a
card-carrying member of the PDP, to be made to chair a panel of
judges of the Court of Appeal in Makurdi where the PDP knows
they have a very bad case.
We appeal to our supporters to remain calm and law abiding. The
ACN had suffered the similar fate in Ekiti, Osun and Edo but at
the end of the day, justice was done. We as a party are
committed to the doctrine of the rule of law and will appeal
against the conflicting judgments immediately at the Supreme
Court as we also seek an injunction against the orders of the
Court of Appeal for the Tribunal to continue so that we can
prove to the whole world that, PDP stole our mandate in Benue
State.
The judiciary is the last hope of the common man and despite the
temporary set back created by this judgment, we shall continue
to have faith in the Nigerian project and believe that the
Supreme Court will rise up to the occasion by set aside the
ruling of the Court of Appeal.
Comrade Abba Yaro
State Chairman, ACN
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