Nigeria Content Online

The Supreme Court
yesterday re-validated the election of former speaker of the Delta
State House of Assembly, Martins Okonta, whose election was nullified
by the Court of Appeal on the grounds of illegal substitution. Not
satisfied with the decision of the Appeals court, Mr. Okonta approached
the Supreme Court with a notice of appeal, requesting it to overturn
the verdict of the court which removed him from office. Mr. Okonta, in
his appeal, said that the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Abuja, was
in conflict with the one earlier given by its Benin division and that
the Abuja division of the court shut him out of the case and was,
therefore, not given a fair hearing before judgment was given in the
case. The Court of Appeal, Abuja, presided over by Jimi Bada, had
ordered INEC to retrieve the certificate of return from Mr. Okonta of
the PDP and issue it to Noye-Kingsley Philips.

Mr. Bada also
directed that Mr. Philips, who was proved to be the rightful candidate
of the party for the 2007 State Assembly election, be sworn in as a
member of the House by the secretariat of the Delta House of Assembly
forthwith.

“This court is
compelled to align itself with the decision of the trial court because
the evidence supplied by the appellant respondent (Philips) clearly
shows that Section 34 of the Electoral Act was violated by INEC and
Okonta respectively. The appellant applicants, INEC and Okonta, are
hereby directed to jointly pay the sum of N100,000 to the respondent as
compensation for court processes,” Mr. Bada stated.

Apex ruling

Ibrahim Idris, Mr.
Philips’ counsel, told the media after the judgment that his client
clearly won the primaries. He said that the leadership of the party, in
a clandestine arrangement with INEC, replaced him (Philips). “Being a
pre-election matter, wisdom demands that we wait until the election was
conducted before approaching the regular court and not the Election
Tribunal,” he said.

Mr. Okonta had since lost the seat to Mr. Philips while another member of the house was sworn in as the speaker.

However, the
Supreme Court set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Abuja
which upheld the decision of the Federal High Court that nullified Mr.
Okonta’s election. Justice Dahiru Musdapher who led four other justices
agreed with Mr. Okonta’s counsel, Lateef Fagbemi, that the suit that
led to the appeal was incompetent because Mr. Okonta was not joined as
a party at the Federal High Court. Justice Olufunlola Adekeye, in the
lead judgment, said the refusal to join Mr. Okonta in the suit is a
breach of his fundamental right to a fair hearing. She said it is trite
law that proper parties are before the court so that they will be bound
by the effect of the action.

“The decision of the Federal High Court which was upheld by the Court of Appeal is hereby set aside,” she said.

Mr. Okonta had gone
to the apex court seeking a review of the verdict of the Abuja Court of
Appeal which had nullified his election. The court also refused Mr.
Okonta’s request for an order of injunction staying the execution of
the Appeal court judgment delivered on May 12, 2009, pending hearing
and determination of the appeal.

The apex court said there might be no need to hear the application
as it would take the substantive case and gave instant judgment.