Date Published: 09/16/11

Akpabio wins at Appeal Court

The Court of Appeal sitting in Calabar has dismissed the appeal brought before it by the Action Congress of Nigeria(ACN) and its governorship candidate in the April 26 election in Akwa Ibom State challenging the decision of the trial tribunal which had earlier dismissed their case against the election of Governor Godswill Akpabio.

In a unanimous judgment by the three judges of the court, read by Honourable Justice M. A. Oredola, the court affirmed the judgment of the trial court which dismissed the ACN’s petition for failure to comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) particularly as contained in Paragragh 47 (1).

“The Trial Tribunal can not be faulted for invoking the provisions of the Electoral Act,” the Appeal Court declared.

The court also agreed with the decision of the lower court as argued by counsel for Governor  Akpabio that the petition of the ACN candidate, Senator Akpan Udoedehe was incurably defective as it failed to meet the provisions set out in paragraph 18 (4) of the First Schedule to the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended).

The judgment contended that the appellants cannot choose which provisions of the law to follow and which not to; no matter how absurd they might consider the provisions of the Act to be, provided the law was made by the National Assembly. It, therefore, dismissed the appeal in its entirety.

On the issue of the arguments from ACN that the judgment of the trial tribunal was unsigned and, therefore, not authentic, the Appeal Court judges noted that they looked into the issue and requested for the manuscript copy of the trial tribunal judgment which was made available to them and they confirmed the judgment as authentic and acceptable having been signed by the majority of the judges.

Reacting to the Appeal Court judgment, Counsel for ACN, Dapo Akinosun, said it was a bitter pill to swallow but noted that they would obtain a copy of the judgment, take a cursory look and take the next step; possibly by approaching the Supreme Court.

On his part, counsel for Governor Akpabio, Duro Akinyele, expressed satisfaction with the judgment saying it was a true representation of the position of the law, based on the constitution and the provisions of the Electoral Act. “There was no manipulation of any kind,” he added.