Supreme Court re-validates election of former Delta Speaker

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.