Amended Electoral Law Pitches Kwara PDP Against Assembly
The amendment of the Electoral Law by the Kwara State House of Assembly has pitched the ruling party in the state, the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) against the Assembly, reports Tunde Sanni
The amendment of the Electoral law in Kwara State by the state House of Assembly is now a subject of controversy between the Assembly and the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP).
Shortly before the polls, especially in the heat of the screening of candidates for the councils polls by the Kwara State Independent Electoral Commission (KWSIEC), the State Assembly passed a bill, which was subsequently signed into law by Dr, Bukola Saraki, the state governor. The law as it were, guided the electoral body in the conduct of the polls, including the contentious submission of candidates for the polls by the national secretariat of the PDP.
After the election however, the national secretariat of the party took the case of the electoral body's refusal to accept the list of its candidates to the election tribunal put in place by Timothy Adepoju Oyeyipo, the state Chief Judge.
The national secretariat of the party engaged the services of John Baiyeshea, Adisa Oloolu and Kayode Olatoke, all seasoned legal practitioners to handle the briefs of the eight chairmanship positions of Ifelodun, Irepodun, Ilorin-East, Oke-Ero, Ekiti, Offa, Oyun and Edu Local government councils.
KWSIEC counsel, Mahmud Gaffar, on his part, raised objection on why the tribunal should not handle the petition insisting that the matter was an intra-party issue and cited several legal authorities to buttress his argument.
The lead counsel to the PDP, John Baiyeshea urged the tribunal to reject the objection of KWSIEC as the matter bordered on election matters and hence within the purview of the tribunal.
But the lead judge of the 5-man tribunal, Justice Banji Orilonise upheld the argument of the PDP counsel explianing that "the issue in the petition before us was not who should be the candidate of the petitioner (PDP) for the local government chairmanship election but who actually was the candidate sponsored and presented by that party to the 1st - 4th applicants (electoral body).
On the sponsorship of candidates, the tribunal lead judge held that "the PDP as the petitioner /respondent alleged that it did not sponsor or submit the name of applicant (the purported winner of the election) but that instead of its sponsored candidates (the rejected candidates by KWSIEC), the 1st - 4th defendant returned the 5th applicant (one of the elected chairmen) as the winner of that election on or about 27th March 2004. We are of the view that the dispute in the main petition is between the PDP and the 1st - 4th applicants and is therefore not an intra party issue".
Displeased with the ruling, the electoral body proceeded to the appellate court to seek for the setting aside of the ruling of the lower tribunal, as well as striking out of the election petition.
Baiyeshea, who led the PDP team of lawyers to the appellate court promptly filed a notice of preliminary objection and argued that the Court of Appeal had no power to entertain appeals against the decision of Local Government Election Petition Tribunal, being a creation of a state law.
Citing sections 240 and 246 of the 1999 constitution, he averred that the law only allows the Court of appeal to entertain appeals from a Court or tribunal created by an act of the National Assembly and posited that "the Court of Appeal cannot grant an application to pursue an appeal it has no power or jurisdiction to entertain or hear".
He added that "no appeal lies on interlocutory decision of an election tribunal to the Court of Appeal in an election petition, the application constitutes an abuse to judicial process and is not properly constituted".
The 3-man Appeal Court presided over by Justice A. J. Ikongbeh declared that the State Electoral Law cannot vest jurisdiction on the Court of Appeal, aguring that " the Court of Appeal derives jurisdiction from the constitution and any other Act of the National Assembly. "This appeal is therefore struck out for want of jurisdiction".
For the electoral body, the judicial pronouncement however seems unfavourable as the tribunal though upheld the motion for a stay of proceedings brought by the electoral body. While the objection to the tribunal pronouncement went to the Appeal Court, the tribunal however fined the electoral body N10,000 as inconvenience allowance for Yohanna Madaki; National Legal Adviser of the PDP who came to the tribunal to open the party's case.
Since, the Appeal Court ruling, the stae chapter of the PDP has been diquieted as party stalwarts have been contending with fresh grumblings which bordered on the amendment of the Electoral Law by the State House of Assembly.
Deputy Chairman of the party, Mujitabar Kadiriyya and State Assistant Secretary (South), Sunday Olaoye, in a press statement in Ilorin described the action of the lawmakers as a perversion of justice.
"The amendment to the state electoral laws no. 2 is to confer the right of appeal that might arise from the state election tribunal on the State High Court and is an action filed against KWSIEC by the national body of the PDP".
In the same vein, a former gubernatorial aspirant of the party in the State, Alhaji Yekini Alabi described the amended law as obnoxious and democratic. To him, the law is against the rule of law and an attempt to deprive the people of the state their rights.
According to Alabi, the intention of the bill was to delay the on-going petition in court and deny the petitioners justice. "That law was made in bad faith and out of personal interest" he argued as he specifically refereed to Sections 2 (3) and 2 (6) both of which he said are against the provisions of the nation's constitution.
The frontline member of the PDP averred that Section 2(6) of the amended law which says that an appeal from the tribunal to the High Court means a stay of proceedings was contrary to a Supreme Court pronouncement.
Section 2 of the amended law which was made available to THISDAY reads: "section 103 of the principal law is amended as follows:
(i). By deleting sub-section (1) and (2) thereof and substituting therewith the following new sub sections:-
"An appeal arising from a decision of an election tribunal under this law shall lie to the State High Court sitting in its appellate jurisdiction.
"Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any other enactment, notice of appeal to the State High Court on the election petition shall be given within 21 days from the date of the decision appealed against.
"Any appeal filed pursuant to section 103 of the principal law before the commencement of this law shall be taken as having been filed before the State High Court in respect of computation of time.
"Any appeal filed pursuant to section 103 of the principal law shall be re-presented to the State High Court for hearing and determination.
"Appeals from the decisions of the State High Court shall lie to the court of Appeal.
Any appeal filed shall serve as stay against further proceedings in the tribunal or court hearing the matter."
The Majority leader of the Assembly, Hon Kayode AbdulWahab Omotosho, in a swift response, disagreed with the critics of the amended law arguing that it was not meant to pervert the course of justice and stated that "no ill was intended by the amendment".
"We have not done anything to truncate the rule of law as we are just trying to correct the error we made with the initial Electoral Law. After we made the law, our attention was drawn to the lapses, thus necessitating the amendment.
"I want everyone to view this issue from the simple perspective that we are human beings and as such prone to error and when we made one, genuinely ofcourse, our attention was drawn to it, which led to the amendment," he explained.
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