Injustice in the Senate
The Independent National Electoral Commission’s refusal to conduct a bye-election in the Anambra Central Senatorial District and the Senate President’s decision not to swear in Bassey Etim as the senator representing Akwa Ibom North East Senatorial Distri
Anambra Central Senatorial District Denies Representation in the Senate
More than two years after the 8th National Assembly was inaugurated, Anambra Central Senatorial District is still not represented in the Senate, following the nullification of the election of Uche Ekwunife of the Peoples Demoractic Party. This anomaly means that the people of the district are not being represented in the Senate.
That election has not been held to elect a senator for the district was not entirely the fault of the independent National Electoral Commission. Anambra state is the most litigious state in Nigeria.
Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, who ran for the senatorial district election as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress but lost had said that the rerun election would not hold until all pending court cases were cleared. In view of the length of time it takes to determine cases in Nigerian courts, that can mean the district stands no chance of being represented in the 8th assembly.
Although, INEC claimed that it was bared from conducting the senatorial election, many in Anambra believed that the commission is acting the APC’s script.
Although there are orders and counter orders, INEC knows the position of the Supreme Court on whether a party whose candidate is disqualified on basis of nonqualification can not take part in the re-run election. Therefore, the PDP can not participate in the re-run election. Since Ngige is now a minister and he does not want to resign to participate in the election, APC too can not participate because time to substitute candidate had passed.
Speaking at a capacity building workshop organised for leaders of political parties, INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmud Yakubu said that the commission was unable to hold the election because of court orders.
He said: “He said, “There are so many court cases even on matters settled by the Supreme Court and the constitution of Nigeria is very clear on it. Once there is a pronouncement by the Supreme Court, all citizens and all actors are duty-bound to obey it until there is another law superseding that passed by the National Assembly or assented to or a reconsideration of the same judgment by the Supreme Court.
“But there are matters settled by the Supreme Court that are still subject of litigation.
“For instance, the famous Labour Party versus INEC case in 2009, says that once an election is nullified on account of candidate disqualification, the disqualified candidate cannot participate in the rerun election and the party that fielded the disqualified candidate has also lost the right to field candidate in the election.
“But unfortunately, some political parties went back to the court and we have been served injunctions that fly in the face of the decision of the Supreme Court. That is why the only rerun election in Anambra Central Senatorial District hasn’t been conducted till date.”
But the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Chief Victor Umeh disagreed. According to him, there are no orders stopping the election. The INEC, he argued was merely hiding under court orders to deprive the people of the district their right to be represented in the Senate.
He said: “there is nothing, no legal impediment anymore against the conduct of this Anambra central election that has been pending. The cases Ngige cited in his outburst clearly cannot stop INEC from conducting that election. The issue of the eligible candidates who can take part in a court ordered fresh election or rerun election has been permanently settled by the Supreme Court of Nigeria in its judgment in a case between Labour Party and INEC, which judgment was delivered on the 13th February 2009. That judgment was an endorsement of judgment delivered by the Court of Appeal, Kaduna Division on 10th April 2008, to the effect that elections that are ordered by court through nullifications do not admit new candidates. Labour Party had attempted to put a new candidate in a governorship election in Adamawa, which was nullified by the Court of Appeal tribunal, and the Court of Appeal, Kaduna division in a very detailed judgment said such an election did not admit fresh candidate as only candidates that were qualified and took part in the earlier election could participate in the fresh election. Labour Party dragged the matter to Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court affirmed that judgment. Unfortunately, people like Ngige are pretending not to know this position of the law.”
The truth lies between the position of INEC and Umeh. While there are orders and counter orders, none directly stopped INEC from conducting the election. The confusion lies in determining which political parties can and cannot participate. That confusion too had already been resolved by the Supreme Court in the Labour Party’s case referred to by INEC chairman. The commission should immediately fix a date for the election and allow politicians to return to courts.
Saraki Allows Akpan to Remain in the Senate Illegally
Almost eight months after the Akwa Ibom Division of the Federal High Court declared Mr Bassey Etim the person who should represent the Akwa Ibom North East Senatorial District in the National Assembly, the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki has yet to swear him in.
Rather, the Senate President has allowed Mr Bassey Albert Akpan to retain the seat illegally. This is an affront to the rule of law.
The argument that because Akpan had filed an appeal, the Senate should wait for the decision of the Court of Appeal before determining what to do does not represent the state of the law. Unless, there is a stay of execution of the judgment of the Federal High Court, the judgment must be obeyed immediately. As at press time, neither the high court nor the Court of Appeal had issued a stay of execution of the judgment.
Moreso, the Senate under Saraki had obeyed a similar judgement. There must be therefore other reasons preventing Saraki from inaugurating Etim as a senator. May be he does not like his face. But he does not have to. He is only required to abide by the oath of his offie.
While giving judgment in a pre-election matter, the high court on February 27, 2017, sacked Akpan from the National Assembly after it found that he was not the valid and bonafide candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which won the 2015 general election for the Akwa Ibom North East senatorial seat.
The court also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the certificate of return of Akpan and issue same to Etim.
The court also ordered Akpan to refund to the coffers of the National Assembly all he had benefitted at the National Assembly including salaries and allowances since he was wrongly inaugurated.
Both Akpan and Etim had claimed to be the winners of the primary poll for the 2015 senatorial election into the Akwa Ibom North East Senatorial District.
Etim had approached the court with an originating summons claiming that he was robbed of his electoral victory at the primary election conducted by the PDP.
But because both of them claimed to be the winners of the primary poll conducted by the PDP for the Akwa Ibom North East District, the high court held that originating summons would not allow both parties present evidence.
The court therefore ordered that the suit be converted from originating summons to writ of summons so that they could each party could call witnesses to give oral and tender documentary evidence.
After the court heard both parties out, the trial judge, Justice F.O Riman, in a considered judgment held that Etim was the valid and bonafide candidate of the party for the senatorial seat but that Akpan had wrongly and illegally represented the district in the National Assembly.
INEC had since complied with the court order as it issued the certificate of return to Etim. The Senate President should take a cue from that. INEC could have claimed that it wanted to wait for the appeal process to be exhausted.
As stated earlier, the Senate under Saraki had obeyed similar court judgments on preelection disputes. A case in point was the dispute between Senator Atai Aidoko and Senator Air Marshall Isaac Alfa who engaged each other in a legal battle over who between them was the authentic candidate of the PDP for the Kogi North East Senatorial District.
Both Aidoko and Alfa had claimed before a federal high court in Abuja to be the winner of the primary poll held by the PDP on December 7, 2014 for the Kogi North East Senatorial District at Idah Town Hall. The matter therefore went to court as a pre-election dispute which Air Marshal Alfa won at the trial high court, the basis upon which he was admitted into the Senate.
But soon as Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court gave judgment in favour of Alfa, Aidoko went on appeal as did Akpan in the instant case.
The appeal neither stopped INEC from recognising Alfa nor the Senate from wearing him in based on the judgment of the Abuja Federal High Court.
While Alfa was in the Senate, the Abuja division of the Court of Appeal heard the appeal filed by Aidoko against the high court judgment.
In the unanimous verdict by a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal (Justices Dr Justice Hussein Mukhtar, Justice T. O Awotoye and Justice Frederick O. Oho), the court specifically held: “In the final analysis, this appeal succeeds; the entire issues are resolved in favour of the appellant (Aidoko) and the judgment of the lower court delivered on 18-4-2016 by Federal High Court, sitting at Abuja by Dr N. Dimgba, J. is hereby set aside.
Although Alfa immediately went to the registry of the Supreme Court to challenge the verdict of the Court of Appeal by filing a notice of appeal in addition to filing a motion for stay of execution, INEC, again, promptly obeyed the judgment of the Court of Appeal by issuing a fresh certificate of return to Aidoko while the Senate also swore him notwithstanding the pendency of the appeal by Alfa at the apex court.