Former Labour leader Adams Oshiomhole scored a major political victory yesterday as the Edo State gubernatorial election tribunal sitting in Benin City declared him the rightful winner of the April 14, 2007 governorship polls.
Former Labour leader Adams Oshiomhole scored a major political victory yesterday as the Edo State gubernatorial election tribunal sitting in Benin City declared him the rightful winner of the April 14, 2007 governorship polls.
It was also a remarkable triumph for his party, the Action Congress (AC), as it claimed a second state, after Lagos.
In a six-hour judgment, the tribunal ordered that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Certificate of Return on which strength Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had been the state governor should be withdrawn from him and given to the former Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) president.
As early as 6.00 a.m., all adjourning streets to the tribunal's venue on Sapele Road were cordoned off by uniformed and plain-clothed security personnel with visitors thoroughly screened before being allowed in.
At 9.15 a.m., the court opened with expectation from both camps.
The Justice Peter Umeadi-led tribunal which strongly criticised the roles played by the police and electoral personnel during balloting, nullified elections in two local councils, Akoko-Edo and Etsako Central, based on a declaration by the then Edo State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Abubakar Ahmadu, that there was no voting in the two councils.
The tribunal also based its judgment on the voided ballot papers as presented by Oshiomhole's counsel, Adeniyi Akintola (SAN). The lawyer had submitted that some of the ballot papers used for the election bore the defunct Federal Electoral Commission's (FEDECO's) stamps while others were not duly signed and stamped at the back as stipulated by the Electoral Act 2006.
Delivering the verdict at 3.15 p.m. during which he did not stop, to even sip water, Umeadi said: "We proceed to invalid votes which were not stamped and signed at the back – PDP, 51,534, AC, 13,610 and in the final analysis we have 129,017 votes for PDP and for AC, we now have 166,577 votes. We hold, therefore, that for the election for the office of the governor of Edo State held on the 14th of April 2007, the 3rd and 4th respondents scored 129,017 valid votes while the 1st and 2nd petitioners scored 166,577 votes.
"We, therefore, declare that the 1st and 2nd petitioners scored the highest number of valid votes in that election. We have subtracted the votes scored by 1st and the 2nd with the total of the valid votes scored in each of the 16 local government areas except Etsako Central and Akoko-Edo and it is clear that the 1st and 2nd petitioners scored at least one quarter of all the votes cast in at least 12 local governments of the 18 local governments in Edo State.
"We hereby declare that the first and the second petitioners are announced as the winners of the election for the office of the governor of Edo State on the 14th of April 2007 having satisfied the provisions 279 A and B of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Section 70 and 147 (2) of the Electoral Act 2006."
"The first petitioner, Comrade Adams Aliu Oshiomhole, is hereby declared as the elected governor of Edo State of Nigeria being the candidate who has scored the highest number of valid votes and has satisfied the requirements of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 and the Electoral Act 2006.
"We order that the certificate of return issued to Senator Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor as elected governor of Edo State is hereby withdrawn and nullified. The second respondent is hereby ordered to issue the first petitioner, Comrade Adams Aliu Oshiomhole, a certificate of return as elected governor of Edo State of the Federal Republic of Nigeria forthwith."
"It is only to be said that the fifth issue for determination has been overtaken by events. We may take out time to commend the senior counsel who have appeared before us in this petition. We commend their decorum, punctuality, regularity, senerity, scholarship and confirmed industry… We, with humility, shall repeat the words of Sir Isaac Newton and say: "We stand on the shoulders of giants, giants of the Nigerian judiciary who have accorded us all the judicial precedence we have used."
Reacting to the verdict, Oshiomhole's, lawyer (Akintola) said: "In a country with men and women, with educated men and women without character, without integrity, a country with men and women who call themselves Honourable without honesty, one cannot but thank God for your type. My lord, may your type continue to exist.
"My lord you have done just like the Biblical Daniel who refused to be corrupted by the delicious meal on the king's table. My lord, you have written your name in gold, you have re-written the history of election petition in this country.
"You will not appreciate the level of how you have helped this country to move forward. A country in Africa is at the brink of collapse now because some people have refused to perform their duty. Your lordship have unknowingly taken away Nigeria from the brink of collapse.
"If all of us both at the Bar and the Bench play our role the way we should, Nigeria will be a better place to live in; it is not just because we have won but because of the fact that we have no other country to call our own.
"My lord, we are grateful for this well-researched judgment."
On his part, counsel to PDP, Alex Iziyon (SAN), said: "My Lord, we on behalf of the 3rd and 4th respondent, thank you. You've done your part; you've done your best; we commend you, but let me remind my learned friend that in 1992, it happened here. It is not new and we knew the result later.
"On that verdict, we must go upstairs. This is the beauty of democracy and by the grace of God, my clients will exercise their constitutional right."
The tribunal head lambasted the police whom he accused of playing prominent roles in the rigging of elections in the state as presented by witnesses on both sides. He, however, laid the blame on the leadership of the force.
His words: "The Police were, in fact, doing the shooting and thumbprinting as presented by the witnesses but the Nigeria police is a regimented force; so they must have got their order from their superior officers; so the leadership of the force should be questioned."
He also berated officials of INEC who, according to him, ought to safeguard Nigeria's democracy.
The AC contested the results in 12 local councils, which included Esan East, Esan Central, Esan West, Esan South East, Igueben, Etsako West, Ovia North East, Ovia South West, Orhioonwon, Owan East and Owan West.
From Ozuriova Aliu, Benin City
The Guradian
Friday, March 21, 2008
