Supreme Court upholds Delta senator's election
From Emmanuel Onwubiko, Abuja
THE Supreme Court at the weekend dismissed the appeal filed by Chief Joseph Adolo Okotie-Eboh challenging the eligibility of Chief James Ebiowo Manager to represent Delta South Senatorial District at the Upper Chambers of the National Assembly.
In dismissing the appeal, the court said the issues canvassed by Okotie-Eboh had been resolved against him and that the appeal lacked merit.
The cross appeal filed by Manager challenging some issues raised by the Court of Appeal was also dismissed as academic. But in all, the entire appeal was resolved in his favour.
Okotie-Eboh and Manager, both members of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta State, were prospective candidates for the 2003 general elections to the Senate.
They both contested the PDP primaries in their district but Manager emerged with the highest votes followed by the appellant.
Aggrieved, the appellant sent a petition to the PDP, also a party to the appeal, alleging that Manager was not qualified to contest the primaries on the ground that on a previous occasion he was indicted by a local council election tribunal for electoral malpractice.
The petition was considered by the Delta State electoral panel of the party, which upheld it, disqualified Manager and recommended that Okotie-Eboh be nominated as the party's candidate for the general election.
Against this recommendation, the PDP submitted Manager's name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the third defendant/respondent in this appeal, as candidate for the said election, which he won.
Prior to the election, however, the appellant filed a suit at a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) seeking among other declarations that having been indicted by the then Bendel State Local Government Council Election Tribunal set up under the Local Government (Basic Constitutional and Transitional Provisions) Decree No. 15 of 1989 in a judgment delivered on March 20, 1991, Manager was not qualified to contest the election in the first place.
The senator's counsel, in his originating summons, pointed out that the court had no jurisdiction to entertain the suit, that the plaintiff did not disclose any cause of action or cognisance reasonable cause of action and that the subject matter bordered on internal affairs of a political party, which the court could not entertain.
Okotie-Eboh eventually lost but headed for the Appeal Court, which, after all things considered, dismissed the appeal.
Again, he went to the Supreme Court, which also upheld Manager's election.
