Election Tribunal dismisses petition against Borno State Governor
The Borno State Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja on Saturday dismissed the petition filed by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Mohammed Goni challenging the election of Governor Kashim Shettima of All Nigerians Peoples Party.
Dismissing the petition a three man panel of Judges led by Justice Sani Adamu said that the petitioner abandoned his petition.
Other members of the panel are Justices A.N. Awulu and L. A. Akintoroye who was said to be unavoidably absent at the tribunal.
The ruling
Continuing in his ruling that lasted for about two hours, the Judge observed that the time for the hearing of the petition has elapsed and therefore the tribunal lacks jurisdiction to hear it.
The tribunal said that it has a duty to exercise discretion on matters before it pointing out that such discretion must be founded on the relevant provisions of the statute in question.
The tribunal explained that the application for extension of time within which to apply for issuance of pre-hearing notice and information sheet cannot be granted when it can via a wrong method of application.
Specifically, the tribunal observed that instead of the petitioner to file his application via a motion on notice, he came by way of motion ex-parte.
In a unanimous judgment on Saturday, the three man panel said that the petition had been abandoned by the petitioner since August, 2011 when he failed to file the requisite application within the stipulated period for the pre-hearing notice.
The Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Sani Adamu said in the lead judgment that “a situation where petitioner failed to bring an application for issuance of pre-hearing notice Form amount to an abandoned case”.
He recalled that the petitioner’s ex-parte motion filed on August 11 2011 for the hearing notice had earlier been dismissed by the tribunal for lack of competence as it was initiated without due process.
However, the tribunal agreed with the petitioners that they had the right to have asked it for an extension of time but said that such a request can only be granted according to the provisions of the electoral act 2010 as amended which only allows such an application under “an extreme circumstance.”
Justice Adamu further ruled that under the electoral Act 2010, “the tribunal has no discretional power to exercise in respect to paragraph 41 (1) of the first schedule” which stated that “no application for extension of time shall be taken”.
“It is our humble opinion that this tribunal is not empowered to use discretion in this circumstance,” Justice Adamu said.
He explained that Governor Shettima’s application, which sought to terminate the petition, succeeds and noted that the entire petition has been abandoned and is hereby dismissed.
Earlier, the tribunal had refused the application filed by Mohammed Goni for an extension of time to file the pre-hearing notice. It said that after its ruling of August 10, the petitioner filed the application after the period of hearing notice has elapsed.
Secondly, the tribunal held that the reason for its adjournment to September 20, after the August 10 sitting, was “to determine the state of the petition which is believed to have been stripped naked.”
‘Victory for democracy’
Reacting to the judgment, Governor Shettima, who was in court described it as victory for democracy, the state and for all.
He urged the PDP to join him in the task of bringing the democratic dividends to the state.
Counsel to the Petitioner, Ibrahim Kiagama said they will study the judgment and decide the next level of action.
Williams
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