Guardian

FOLLOWING the absence of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Supreme Court Tuesday in Abuja could not proceed with hearing the application filed by a former governor of Ekiti State, Segun Oni, seeking to upturn the Appeal Court judgment that sacked him from the Government House and declared Olukayode Fayemi the elected governor.

The apex court had to adjourn hearing in the application till March 5, 2013, to enable INEC, which it considers crucial to the justice of the matter, to attend.

Oni is challenging his removal on the ground that the suspended President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Isa Salami, who constituted the panel, presided over it and wrote the lead judgment of the Appeal Court that sacked him from office.

He alleged that the same Salami is a friend of Senator Bola Tinubu, the alter ego of Fayemi’s party, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and therefore was prejudiced in his verdict. According to Oni, Salami was biased and favoured ACN in the judgment and such judgment should not be sustained on that ground.

When the matter was called up yesterday, the Presiding Justice of the panel and Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mariam Aloma-Mukhtar, took judicial notice of the fact that INEC was not served with the hearing notice.

Oni’s counsel, Chief Joe Kyari-Gadzama (SAN), told the court that though INEC was a nominal party, it deserved to be heard in the interest of fair hearing. He therefore prayed the court to grant a short adjournment because of the nature of the case. Accordingly, Justice Aloma-Mukthar adjourned the case to March 5, 2013.

In the written brief by Prof. Ben Nwabueze (SAN) on Oni’s behalf, he submitted that bias constituted a proper ground for setting aside a judgment. He said: “Bias or likelihood of it makes a decision a nullity and is therefore a sufficient ground for the lower court to set aside its own judgment.”

However, in a preliminary objection, Fayemi’s counsel, Mr. Olusola Baiyashea (SAN), said the Supreme Court does not have the jurisdiction to hear the appeal.

According to him, “this honourable court has no jurisdiction to entertain this appeal, being an appeal emanating from the decision of the court below in governorship election petition of Ekiti State, arising from the governorship election of 2007 to which Section 246 (3) of the 1999 Constitution is applicable.” He submitted that there was no valid appeal before the court.