How Supreme Court Upholds Obiano’s Victory On Anambra Guber Poll

Respite came the way of Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State, on Monday, as the Supreme Court declared him as the valid winner of the governorship elections held in the state on November 16, 17 and 30, 2013.

In a unanimous judgment, a seven-man panel of justices of the apex court, dismissed three separate appeals that sought to nullify the election, saying the appellants “woefully failed to prove their case.”

Whereas the first appeal was lodged before the apex court by the All Progressives Congress, APC, and its candidate in that election, Dr. Chris Ngige, the two other appeals dismissed, yesterday, were filed by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its own candidate, Mr. Tony Nwoye.

The appellants had urged the Supreme Court to upturn the concurrent judgments of both the Anambra State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and the Enugu Division of the Court of Appeal which earlier upheld the election victory of Governor Obiano.

Specifically, the appellants, aside alleging that the election was not conducted in compliance with the Electoral Act, equally accused the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, of tampering with the voters register with a view to ensuring that Obiano who was the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, emerged victorious.

They alleged that INEC reviewed the voters’ register three days to the election, a situation they said led to the disenfranchisement of many electorate in the state.
Besides, the appellants insisted that Obiano was not qualified to contest the election, alleging that he was involved in multiple voters’ registration.

In their judgment, though the apex court dismissed Obiano’s contention that the appeals were academic, it stressed that the appellants failed to prove that the alleged non-compliance to the Electoral Act by INEC, substantially affected the outcome of the election to warrant its nullification.

The apex court panel held that the appellants failed to discharge the burden of proof rested upon them by the law. “There was no evidence that the 3rd respondent (Obiano) was convicted for multiple registration to call for the invocation of section 182(1) of the 1999 Constitution to disqualify him from contesting the election,” the court noted.

More so, the panel maintained that the allegation of multiple registrations constituted a pre-election matter which they said was not only criminal in nature, but also could not be entertained before an election tribunal.

“The appellants woefully failed to substantiate their allegations of disenfranchisement, false certificate and multiple registrations. The 3rd respondent was duly qualified to contest the Anambra gubernatorial election.

“We have come to an irresistible conclusion that the appellants have not shown why we should disturb the concurrent findings of the two lower courts.

“Consequently, we hereby affirm the concurrent decisions of the lower courts. This appeal is devoid of any scintilla of merit and is hereby dismissed. The 3rd respondent is hereby affirmed as the winner of the governorship election held in Anambra State, parties are to bear their own cost,” the apex court held.

Though Justice Mahmud Mohammed presided over the panel, while the lead judgment in the appeal by the APC was delivered by Justice Kumai Akaahs, Justices Olukayode Ariwoola and John Inyang Okoro, read the lead verdicts in the two other appeals.

National Chairman of APGA, Chief Victor Umeh, hailed the judgment, saying it was “a true testament that our judiciary is working and is alive to its responsibilities.”

He said the judiciary by determining the appeals according to their merit, proved that it had what it took to withstand pressure from all quarters and interest groups ahead of the 2015 general elections.