Useni files Notice of Appeal against Judgment of Governorship Tribunal: Appeal Court may sit on Appeal within 3 weeks.

Useni files Notice of Appeal against Judgment of Governorship Tribunal: Appeal Court may sit on Appeal within 3 weeks.

By Lovins Yakubu

October 21, 2019

Plateau PDP Gubernatorial Candidate in the 2019 election, Lt Gen (Rtd), Sen. Jeremiah Timbut Useni has approached the Court of Appeal challenging the judgement of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal delivered on October 2nd, 2019.

In a statement by Hon. Abraham Yiljap, Media Consultant to Useni stated that Useni's legal team,( led by Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, and Edward Pwajok, SAN with Benson Igbanoi, Chief Sunday-Gabriel Odey and ten other legal experts), has filed the notice of appeal and formulated 21 (twenty one) grounds of appeal to overturn the verdict of the tribunal dismissing his petition.

The statement stated that currently, the Registry of the tribunal under the leadership of the Secretary is compiling the record of appeal for transmission to the Court of Appeal. This will be completed within ten days.

According to the statement, “Specifically, General Useni and the PDP are maintaining that Simon Bako Lalong was not qualified in the first place to have contested for election into the office of Governor of Plateau State because he supplied false information to INEC in his form CF100. The tribunal in its judgement had acknowledged that its findings also pointed to the fact that the information he supplied in that form was false”.

It added that Useni's legal experts pointed out that the inescapable conclusion that ought to be reached by the Tribunal is that the 2nd Respondent is not qualified to contest election into the office of Governor. Instead, the Learned Tribunal “clearly somersaulted in arriving at its decision which was at odds with its findings and this occasioned a miscarriage of justice.”

In addition, Useni held that the Tribunal should not have relied on the unreported case of Simon Bako Lalong vs. Jeremiah Timbut Useni & three others delivered by the Court of Appeal on 19th August, 2019 to expunge the evidence of 20 of his witnesses because he did not list them in his list of witnesses accompanying the Petition.”

“This is because as at the date when the tribunal delivered its judgement, that particular judgment of the Court of Appeal which Useni had appealed against had been set aside by the Supreme Court on 26th September 2019. The Supreme Court had consequently ordered that the evidence of PW.12 earlier ordered by the Court of Appeal to be expunged be reckoned with by the Tribunal. However, Useni's Counsel said the Tribunal erroneously still relied on the overturned Judgment of the Court of Appeal to expunge the evidence of the said Appellants’ witnesses,” said useni.

The legal team also maintained that INEC, being the 1st Respondent did not challenge Useni's allegations of mutilation of election results, irregularities and non compliance with mandatory provisions of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended),

INEC did not call any witness in support of the denial made in its Reply to the Petition which Useni said all pointed to the fact the petitioners proved the allegations in the Petition entitling them to the declaratory reliefs sought in the Petition.

In the reliefs being sought from the Court of Appeal, Gen Useni and the PDP are seeking an ORDER allowing their Appeal and setting aside the judgment of the Trial Tribunal.

Sen. J.T Useni

They also want an ORDER declaring that the 2nd Respondent was not duly elected by a majority of lawful votes cast in the election into the office of Governor of Plateau State and that the declaration and return of the 2nd Respondent by the 1st Respondent as the winner of the election is unlawful, undue, null, void and of no effect.

They also seek an ORDER nullifying the return of the 2nd Respondent as the winner of the Governorship Election and directing INEC to withdraw Simon Bako Lalong's certificate of return; declare and return Useni as validly elected and issue him a certificate of Return as the duly elected Governor of Plateau State

It is expected that from the filing of this notice of appeal to the time of judgement will take a maximum of 60 days. However, the Court of Appeal may sit on the appeal within the next three weeks.