SAN FRANCISCO, November 04, (THEWILL) – The Supreme Court, on Monday, finally put to rest the controversy over who will fly the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) flag in the November 16 governorship election in Anambra State as it upheld the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt division , which declared Tony Nwoye as the candidate of the party. .
A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt had earlier declared Nicholas Ukachukwu as candidate of the party but the decision was reversed by the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt division .
Ukachukwu, who was not satisfied with the decision of the appellate court, proceeded to the apex court with his counsel, Joseph Daudu, SAN, filing an order to challenge the decision of the Appeal Court.
In its ruling on the matter on Monday , the Supreme court held that one of the grounds of the appeal formulated by the appellant which is “absence of fair hearing” was irrelevant as it was clear from the papers filed before the court that the appellant was given a fair hearing at the lower court.
Ruling on the issue of jurisdiction, the court held that the high court had jurisdiction to entertain the matter contrary to the decision of the Court of Appeal that held that the lower court did not have the jurisdiction to entertain the matter brought by Ukachukwu in the first place.
Justice Mohammed Mahmud, who led a panel of five justices of the apex court also held that the decision of the Court of Appeal which declared Nwoye as the candidate of the PDP had not been challenged, hence he (Nwoye) remained the candidate of the party.
The court however fixed January 31, 2014 to give reasons for the judgment.
Ukachukwu,s counsel, Daudu, had argued in his submission that the Court of Appeal did not give his client fair hearing and also shut him out in the determination of the appeal filed by Nwoye.
He submitted that the Court of Appeal erred when it held that the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt did not have jurisdiction to entertain the suit.
Daudu submitted that the issue he filed before the high court was that of tax default by Nwoye and that the constitution of the party provided that all aspirants should pay their taxes appropriately.
He also argued that the appellant was not out of place to have approached the high court.
He therefore prayed the court to allow the appeal.
Opposing the application, however, counsel to PDP, Joe-Kyari Gadzama, SAN , said the appellant was not shut out at the Court of Appeal, saying, counsel to the appellant rather walked out on the court.
He further submitted that it was not the duty of the court to impose a candidate on a non-willing party.
Gadzama further submitted that the High Court did not have jurisdiction to entertain the appellant’s application in the first instance since it bothered on the eligibility of candidates.
He said it was the primary duty of the party to decide who was eligible and who was not.
He further submitted, that no complaint had been lodged against the conduct of the primary election which could have conferred jurisdiction on the court.
He prayed the court to dismiss the appeal for lacking in merit.
Also opposing the application, counsel to Nwoye , Garbu Pwul, SAN, aligned with the submission of Gadzama but however noted that the appellant filed his suit at the high court after the primary election had been conducted.
He added that the name of Nwoye had been submitted before the suit was instituted.
Pwul further argued that Section 87(4) of the Electoral Act made it clearer that the person with the highest number of vote should be declared the winner and in the instant case, Nwoye had been declared the winner and his name had been submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC.
He prayed the court to dismiss the appeal in its entirety especially when the order being sought by the appellant was not enforceable.
Counsel to INEC, Ibrahim Bawa, on his own, submitted that the electoral body did not take any position and that it would abide by the court’s decision.
