The Court of Appeal, sitting in Ibadan yesterday, sacked Iyiola Omisore, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation. He ceases to be a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The three-member panel, headed by Clara Ogunbiyi, unanimously ruled that the April 14, 2007 election in which Mr. Omisore was declared the winner, was characterised by widespread irregularities and non-compliance with the Electoral Act of 2003.
Appeal court decides
Delivering her lead judgement yesterday, Justice Ogunbiyi said the petitioner, Babajide Omoworare, the Action Congress (AC) candidate in the 2007 election, had succeeded in six out of the seven reliefs he sought from the court. Apart from the first prayer, where the appellant wanted the Appeal Court to declare Mr. Omisore unfit for the election on the grounds of being impeached as the deputy governor of Osun State, Mr Omoworare's other six prayers, which essentially bordered on election irregularities and non-compliance with the electoral law, sailed through.
The Court of Appeal ruling overturned that of the Osun state election petition tribunal which had earlier thrown out Mr. Omoworare's petition seeking the nullification of Mr. Omisore election. In that particular case, the petitioner had posited that since Mr. Omisore was impeached as the deputy governor of Osun state in December 2002 for financial misconduct, he was not qualified to contest the election in the first place. He also alleged that widespread irregularities observed during the election, particularly in Ife Central, Ife North and Ife South, gave Mr. Omisore undue advantage over other contestants and led him to being declared winner of the election. He then asked the tribunal to void the votes in the areas in contention and return him the winner of the election, with the remaining votes.
Tribunal's decision
In spite of the barrage of evidences and many witnesses pooled to argue his case, the election tribunal held that Mr. Omoworare did not convince it and dismissed his application for lacking merit and upheld the decision of INEC to declare Mr. Omisore winner of the election. Dissatisfied with the verdict of the tribunal, the AC candidate took his case to the Court of Appeal, leading to yesterday's judgment.
In reaching their verdict, the appeal court judges seemed particularly miffed by the tribunal's misapplication of the judgement in the Buhari/Obasanjo case, a precedent that was the basis for kicking out Mr. Omoworare's appeal. Referring to the content of the judgement read by the chairman of the tribunal in dismissing Mr. Omoworare's petition, Justice Ogunbiyi said since the panel had established that there were widespread irregularities and non-compliance with the electoral laws which INEC itself did not object to, the tribunal erred by upholding the election of Mr. Omisore.
The Court of Appeal therefore set aside the election of Mr. Omisore but declined to declare Mr.Omoworare winner, arguing that such a pronouncement would amount to allowing him to benefit from illegality. Justice Ogunbiyi ordered INEC to hold a re-run election to fill the vacant seat within 60 days of the judgement. Modupe Fasanmi and Sidi Bage, the two other members of the court, took turns to support the lead judgement.
Mr. Omisore was the flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party in the April 2007 election for Osun East senatorial district and was so returned by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after the election.
Reaction
Speaking with reporters after the ruling, Mr. Omoworare said he was happy that justice came his way at last. He said though the journey was tortuous, his points were eventually proved. The AC candidate, however, expressed fears over the possibility of holding a different election from the one nullified by the Appeal Court. "Are we going to have a free and fair election if this election is done again? I can't answer the question.
Nigerians and the people of Ife/Ijesa should answer the question," he said. "I have always said that people should resist people stealing their votes.
Stealing of ballot boxes is worse than armed robbery because the effect is monumental. It affects children yet unborn."
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