Court sacks Senator Omisore - Orders rerun in Ife East Senatorial District within 60 days - Oyo Deputy Speaker loses seat at tribunal

From Adebayo Waheed, Taiwo Adisa and Tunde Oyekola, - 30.10.2009

THE Appeal Court sitting in Ibadan, Oyo State, on Thursday, nullified the election of the Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Iyiola Omisore. The senator, representing Ife East Senatorial District, Osun State, contested the election on the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The court ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct another election within 60 days.

The presiding judge, Justice Clara Ogunbiyi, faulted the ruling of the lower tribunal, which upheld the April 21, 2007 election of Omisore, despite the fact that there were enough proofs of “widespread violence, act of thuggery, electoral malpractices and non-compliance with the electoral laws.”

The Action Congress candidate in the election, Hon. Jide Omoworare, had gone to the Appeal Court on six grounds but the court ruled in favour of Omisore on one ground, favouring the appellant in the remaining five grounds.

The court ruled in favour of Omisore that he was qualified to contest the election regardless of his impeachment on 13 December 2002, as the deputy governor of Osun State, since he had not been “found guilty of any criminal act by a regular court of law or a code of conduct tribunal.”

The appellate court, however, picked holes on the ruling of the lower tribunal that there was no evidence that the widespread violence in Ife Central, Ife North and Ife South during the election affected its results.

It said the lower “tribunal judges grievously erred” by failing to attune themselves to the word, “widespread” while the tribunal “seriously somersaulted” in overlooking the absence of signature of presiding officers on the election result sheets, absence of voting in some polling booths arising from violence and acts of thuggery.

The court, therefore, declared the National Assembly election in Ife East Senatorial District as invalid in view of its non-compliance with the electoral laws and, consequently, nullified the election.

The INEC was ordered to conduct a fresh election within 60 days. The two other judges on the panel, Justices Modupe Fasanmi and Sidi Bage, aligned themselves with the judgment, describing it as “a thorough job.”

Counsel for Omoworare, Miss Folasade Aofolaju, commended the justices but said “we are satisfied partially,” adding that she would have preferred a situation where the court would go ahead to declare her client as “the authentic winner of the election.”

In a related development, a three-man appeal panel has nullified the election of the Deputy Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Honourable Jelili Adeleke and ordered a re-run within 60 days.

The panel at its sitting on Thursday upheld the decision of the Election Petition Tribunal in the petition of Adesanya Orimidara, the Labour Party candidate in the April 2007 election.

The Labour Party candidate had prayed the tribunal to cancel the election on the grounds that the INEC unlawfully excluded his party’s logo on the ballot papers prepared for the election, even when his party had validly nominated him for the election.