Contrary to the rumour making the rounds (which have been denied by the ousted Gov) that Kanu Agabi (SAN) has washed his hands off the PDP's guber review case, he today submitted his final addresses to the Supreme Court.


By KANU AGABI, SAN
(1) There is no denying that this is a time of crises in our country. At this, of all times, our Supreme Court has been afforded this unique opportunity of allaying the fears of those who cast aspersions on the credibility of our courts. Those who mean well for the nation will agree that we have here an opportunity for the Supreme Court to mitigate the rising unpopularity of our courts and to rehabilitate her damaged reputation and restore the good name of the judiciary by setting aside this judgment which seems to us to be a nullity.

We may be quite wrong. In that case, please, forgive us. Your verdict in this matter should match the solemn oath you have taken. Remember that every decision of this honourable court involves the good name of the judiciary. Prove to the world that this court is sacred. Let your verdict help to retain the good graces of our people.

(2) It is owed to the work of this Supreme Court that the nation continues to survive. It is that work that give us the confidence to present this application. That you are willing to reconsider your decision gives you honour and glory. We come before you firmly convinced that you will act in aid of the cause of justice. In this application we appeal to you, we urge you, we beg you to preserve the glorious reputation of this court. We appeal to you to prove wrong all those who have an evil opinion of our judiciary.

Here is a great opportunity for your Lordships to act. Free the judiciary from suspicion. Give no one cause to despise our courts. Prove to the world that you are the equals of the courts of other nations.

(3) Remember always that as you sit in judgment over us, so the nation sits in judgment over you. And you should worry, not just over the judgment of this generation, but also the judgment of generations to come when none of us will be alive to defend our actions.

(4) There is no doubting the fact that your Lordships, being human, will from time to time fall into error. Prove to the world that when that happens you will not lack the courage to correct yourselves. That is the unique opportunity that this case offers you.

(5)The nation thinks well of your lordships. Prove to the nation that our good thoughts of you are justified and are well deserved. There is not upon this bench a single judge who has been disloyal to his oath or who has a bad reputation. Stand up for the judiciary and for yourselves. Stand up for truth. Stand up for justice. Stand up for strict and honest interpretation of the laws. Take that stand for which the nation can praise you and commend you.

(6)The position that you hold demands that you do so. It is the great precedents that your Lordships have established that we appeal to you to follow. The nation expects you to deliver an honest verdict, a correct verdict. Prove to the nation that here in this Supreme Court a man or woman who has lost his rights will be given the opportunity to bewail it.

(7)What is at stake in this case is not only the right that the Applicants have lost but the good name of the judiciary as well. What we call upon you to do is nothing new. It is something that you have done times without number in the past. Those occasions that you reversed yourselves in the past were not more urgent than it is now. Never in the history of this court have your Lordships delivered a judgment which evoked the protest of the public. This one has. Therefore, we urge you, we appeal to you to take a second look at it.

(Those who in their wisdom established this court made it supreme thus expressing their determination that litigation should come to an end. And so this court is supreme, as you have yourselves said, not because you are infallible but because your decisions are final. Whatever you say the law is that is what it shall be. And that is why your Lordships are ever so careful to ensure that your decisions stand the test of time and are not open to any justifiable condemnation or suspicion.

(9)The just decisions of this Supreme Court immortalize your Lordships who deliver them. It is important therefore that you commit nothing to writing that generations to come, long after we are all dead and gone, will examine and criticize and condemn as unjust and unjustifiable. That has been the lot of the Athenian jury which condemned Socrates.

(10) That has been the lot of Pontius Pilate who, having found no guilt in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, nevertheless ordered that he be crucified. It is precisely to save judges from that kind of predicament that the law allows them in appropriate cases to correct their own mistakes or set aside altogether decisions that are a nullity.

It is that opportunity that we urge your lordships to take in this case and re-examine the judgment which we urge you to set aside on the ground that if you re-examine it dispassionately you will find reason to set it aside and thereby demonstrate to the world that you have courage to correct yourselves when you find that you have erred.

(11) In this case a man who himself branded the election in which he participated as invalid has been adjudged by your Lordships as the winner of the same election. That is in the face of past and innumerable decisions by your Lordships that if such a ground succeeded it should lead to the nullification of the election. In this case, the man you declared as winner of the election specifically prayed that your Lordships should nullify the result of elections in the entire State and that your Lordships order that a fresh election be conducted.

(12) Your Lordships also declared as winner a man who prayed your Lordships to order a re-run election in all the 388 polling units where elections and results were cancelled or not declared.

(13) Your Lordships ordered victory for a man who admitted under cross examination that in polling unit after polling unit, he awarded to himself more votes than the total number of registered voters in those polling units.

(14) Your Lordships accepted votes from 388 polling units presented by the 1st Respondent which had the consequence of swelling-up the total number of votes scored in the election way beyond the total number of accredited voters. The excess votes between the total votes scored and the total accredited voters are 129,340 votes – a clearly impossible situation and brazen illegality under our electoral law. (Underlining supplied)

(15) Your Lordships declared the 1st Respondent as winner of the election when your Lordships did not satisfy yourselves that the 1st Respondent scored enough votes across the various local government areas of Imo State to satisfy the geographical spread as decreed by the Constitution.

(16) Based on the foregoing, we submit that the judgment delivered by this Honourable Court on 14th January 2020 in Appeal No. SC.1462/2019 and Cross Appeal No. SC.1470/2019 is a nullity because –

(17) The judgment was delivered without jurisdiction in that the court declared the 1st Respondent as the winner of the election contrary to section 140 (1) and (2) of the Electoral Act (as amended)

(18)The judgment is unconstitutional in that it declared the 1st Respondent the winner of the election without proof that the votes accredited to him met the geographical spread stipulated in section 179 (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended)

(19)The judgment was obtained by fraud in that the votes upon which the 1st Respondent was declared as the winner of the election were in excess of the number of voters accredited for the election.

(20) The judgment was given per incuriam as your lordships by this judgment unwittingly sanctioned that total votes cast at an election can be in excess of the total number of accredited voters, as in this case, the total votes exceeded the total accredited voters by 129,340 votes.

(21) Furthermore, the judgment was given per incuriam in view of the 1st Respondent’s contention that the election was invalid by reason of non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) whereupon he prayed that a supplementary election should be held in the 388 disputed polling units where he claimed his votes were cancelled.

(22) We respectfully urge your Lordships therefore to set aside the judgment in Appeal No. SC.1462/2019 and Cross Appeal No. SC.1470/2019 as prayed in our motion paper because as this Honourable Court rightly noted in ADEGOKE MOTORS v. ADESANYA (supra) “it is far better to admit an error than to preserve an error”. May it so please your Lordships.

____________________
Kanu Agabi, SAN, CON
Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN
J. T. U. Nnodum, SAN
K.C.O Njemanze, SAN
S. I AMEH, SAN.
Emeka Etiaba, SAN
Chief Umeh Kalu, SAN
Emeka Okpoko, SAN
L. M. Alozie, SAN
Essien H. Andrew, SAN
S. A. Anyalewechi, Esq.
A. S. Ogujiofor, Esq.
Charles Ndukwe,Esq.
Uchenna Njoku, Esq.

(Applicants’ Counsel)
Kanu G. Agabi & Associates.

Nigerians will be most grateful if your Lordships grant Ihedioha it requests and prayers.

But wait Uzodima 4cked up by first praying for a rerun which means he already admitted that election not get head in the 388 polling Units.

Uzodima and APC at least should fear God for once.

This is a solemn appeal to the Supreme Court to do the needful.

I particularly like the last sentence " ... because as this Honourable Court rightly noted in ADEGOKE MOTORS v. ADESANYA (supra) “it is far better to admit an error than to preserve an error”. May it so please your Lordships"

Staro:
This is a solemn appeal to the Supreme Court to do the needful.

I particularly like the last sentence " ... because as this Honourable Court rightly noted in ADEGOKE MOTORS v. ADESANYA (supra) “it is far better to admit an error than to preserve an error”. May it so please your Lordships"

The prayer touch me I swear

Do Supreme court work on sentiments? I thought PDP will bring out new evidence on why the supreme was wrong in her judgement. Supreme court is not a prayer ground. Compare Agabi's submission and that of APC in Balyesa yesterday.

It is either the Supreme Court leave both Imo and Bayelsa's verdict s remain same or both go to rerun..

fukushaki:

See desperation!

helinues:
It is either the Supreme Court leave both Imo and Bayelsa's verdict s remain same or both go to rerun..

But the two cases are totally different. Disqualifications are common in politics, per Bayelsa. In Imo the SC actually aided and abetted fraud and rigging.

But wait o, can’t u folks forget having a sentimental favorite for a second, and just step back and broadly look at what it is u r defending? Can’t u see that if this embarrassment of a judgement is let stand it diminishes every Nigerian including you yourself because it blatantly rewards clear cheating and forgery that even kids can tell is cheating and forgery. How can u teach children about not cheating when they can see for themselves that the final court in the land rewards cheating and forgery?? Also, at the very least, it greatly reduces your ability to have a say in who governs u because it allows for any ruling party to “win” any election it wishes, which will inevitably lead to a one-party country.

A Supreme Court overrules all lower courts plus INEC in order to replace an 8-month gov with a 4th place finisher, all based on clearly fraudulent documents. And here u guys are, defending it!

That the cases are quite different is clear to leaders of thought in the country. Hence their rallying around the Imo case but not the Bayelsa case. See below.
————————————————-

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, Prof. Pat Utomi, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association, others, to monitor Supreme Court Imo judgement review.

Ihedioha Vs Uzodinma: Civil Society Leaders Urge Supreme Court To Reverse Judgment

BY SAHARAREPORTERS, FEB 11, 2020

Leaders of civil society in Nigeria have asked the Supreme Court to set aside its judgment pronouncing Hope Uzodinma as duly elected governor of Imo State...

The group posited that the court erred in its judgment and faulted the process through which the apex court arrived at the decision.
In the statement signed by Dr Olusegun Awe Obe, the Concerned Leaders of Thought and Conscience in Project Nigeria, highlighted reasons the court should not have pronounced Uzodinma as winner of the election...
IkalaiyeLOTO, tinsel, fukushaki

WATCHOVER:
Nigerians will be most grateful if your Lordships grant Ihedioha it requests and prayers.

But wait Uzodima 4cked up by first praying for a rerun which means he already admitted that election not get head in the 388 polling Units.

Uzodima and APC at least should fear God for once.

The worst case scenario should have been to declare a rerun in the controversial 388 polling units.
Even Uzodinma himself prayed the courts for same.

The Supreme Court went straight to declare him winner without taking cognisance of the fact that even
with the fraudulent votes Uzodinma did not still meet the geographical spread as decreed by the constitution.

.

paragraphs 11,12 and 13 are too grave to be ignored by the supreme court judges o!

Staro:



The worst case scenario should have been to declare a rerun in the controversial 388 polling units.
Even Uzodinma himself prayed the courts for same.

The Supreme Court went straight to declare him winner without taking cognisance of the fact that even
with the fraudulent votes Uzodinma did not still meet the geographical spread as decreed by the constitution.

.

Then Uzodinma is a goner

tinsel:
Do Supreme court work on sentiments? I thought PDP will bring out new evidence on why the supreme was wrong in her judgement. Supreme court is not a prayer ground. Compare Agabi's submission and that of APC in Balyesa yesterday.

Oga, even with Uzodinma's fraudulent votes, he still did not meet the required geographical spread as decreed by the constitution.
Why then will the Supreme Court overlook such glaring fact and declare him winner?

You called that sentiments too?

.

tinsel:
Do Supreme court work on sentiments? I thought PDP will bring out new evidence on why the supreme was wrong in her judgement. Supreme court is not a prayer ground. Compare Agabi's submission and that of APC in Balyesa yesterday.

Olanipekun was writing rubbish if you no know, Olanipekun was busy commanding your Lordships as if they are his boys.
Your Lordships are like god on earth.
Can you command God?
But instead you cry to God by letting Him understand your feelings.

Abeg Olanipekun should learn from this one.

Am optimistic that Ihedioha will laugh last. I was at Ihitte Uboma today for d burial proceedings of d Late Senator Benjamin Uwajumogu and d mood in d camp of d APC is with mixed feelings. Even Hope Uzodinma composure wasn't strong. A hard core APC chieftain told me dat March 2nd is pregnant and with d international attention already attained by d Ihedioha supreme court review that he sees PDP getting a favourable adjudication. Their only hope is dat should d supreme court order for a rerun dat APC as d govt in power will use all state apparatus to rig. Surprisingly he confessed that Ihedioha has a better pedigree to develop d state than Uzodinma but dat APC being in power will favour him personally.

CanadaOrBust:


But the two cases are totally different. Disqualifications are common in politics, as in Bayelsa. In Imo the SC actually aided and abetted fraud and rigging.

But wait o, can’t u folks forget having a sentimental favorite for a second, and just step back and broadly look at what it is u r defending? Can’t u see that if this embarrassment of a judgement is let stand it diminishes every Nigerian including you yourself because it blatantly rewards clear cheating and forgery that even kids can tell is cheating and forgery. How can u teach children about not cheating when they can see for themselves that the final court in the land rewards cheating and forgery?? Also, at the very least, it greatly reduces your ability to have a say in who governs u because it allows for any ruling party to “win” any election it wishes, which will inevitably lead to a one-party country.

A Supreme Court overrules all lower courts plus INEC in order to replace an 8-month gov with a 4th place finisher, all based on clearly fraudulent documents. And here u guys are, defending it!

That the cases are quite different is clear to leaders of thought in the country. Hence their rallying around the Imo case but not the Bayelsa case. See below.
————————————————-

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, Prof. Pat Utomi, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association, others, to monitor Supreme Court Imo judgement review.

Ihedioha Vs Uzodinma: Civil Society Leaders Urge Supreme Court To Reverse Judgment

BY SAHARAREPORTERS, FEB 11, 2020

Leaders of civil society in Nigeria have asked the Supreme Court to set aside its judgment pronouncing Hope Uzodinma as duly elected governor of Imo State...

The group posited that the court erred in its judgment and faulted the process through which the apex court arrived at the decision.
In the statement signed by Dr Olusegun Awe Obe, the Concerned Leaders of Thought and Conscience in Project Nigeria, highlighted reasons the court should not have pronounced Uzodinma as winner of the election...
IkalaiyeLOTO, tinsel, fukushaki

Buhari's ass lickers dont see any wrong in eating his feaces if need be

Staro:



Oga, even with Uzodinma's fraudulent votes, he still did not meet the required geographical spread as decreed by the constitution.
Why then will the Supreme Court overlook such glaring fact and declare him winner?

You called that sentiments too?

.

Yeah, he got 98% in the 388 polling units (never mind that candidate Nwosu is from there!), and 13% in the rest of the state!
The whole thing is one big LAUGH!

jlinkd78:
Am optimistic that Ihedioha will laugh last. I was at Ihitte Uboma today for d burial proceedings of d Late Senator Benjamin Uwajumogu and d mood in d camp of d APC is with mixed feelings. Even Hope Uzodinma composure wasn't strong. A hard core APC chieftain told me dat March 2nd is pregnant and with d international attention already attained by d Ihedioha supreme court review that he sees PDP getting a favourable adjudication. Their only hope is dat should d supreme court order for a rerun dat APC as d govt in power will use all state apparatus to rig. Surprisingly he confessed that Ihedioha has a better pedigree to develop d state than Uzodinma but dat APC being in power will favour him personally.

You expected APC to come out partying in the burial. No amount of blackmail and sentiments will make Supreme Court rescind it’s decision. They lack such powers, the Supreme Court will end up defending their judgement and dismiss the petition. Ihedioha is wasting his time

fukushaki:


Buhari's ass lickers dont see any wrong in eating his feaces if need be

Sorry, I misread your comment. I thought u were for the judgment. But note, I go case by case. I am not in any camp. I may be on opposite side come next case!

Staro:
This is a solemn appeal to the Supreme Court to do the needful.

I particularly like the last sentence " ... because as this Honourable Court rightly noted in ADEGOKE MOTORS v. ADESANYA (supra) “it is far better to admit an error than to preserve an error”. May it so please your Lordships"

All l read from this address is emotion expression. But, Kanu as senior and experience lawyer he is, practicing the act for a very long time, ought to have known that court cases are not decided base on emotions. It is more or less an outburst of someone who has lost a contest to an opponent he thought he would have defeated easily.
I remembered that day Nwoabuze appeared for Atiku in the just concluded PET with his speech full of emotions like a crying baby

jlinkd78:
Am optimistic that Ihedioha will laugh last. I was at Ihitte Uboma today for d burial proceedings of d Late Senator Benjamin Uwajumogu and d mood in d camp of d APC is with mixed feelings. Even Hope Uzodinma composure wasn't strong. A hard core APC chieftain told me dat March 2nd is pregnant and with d international attention already attained by d Ihedioha supreme court review that he sees PDP getting a favourable adjudication. Their only hope is dat should d supreme court order for a rerun dat APC as d govt in power will use all state apparatus to rig. Surprisingly he confessed that Ihedioha has a better pedigree to develop d state than Uzodinma but dat APC being in power will favour him personally.

Rubbish

baralatie:
paragraphs 11,12 and 13 are too grave to be ignored by the supreme court judges o!

Were they pleaded by the pdp at the apex court originally

gawu1:

All l read from this address is emotion expression. But, Kanu as senior and experience lawyer he is, practicing the act for a very long time, ought to have known that court cases are not decided base on emotions. It is more or less an outburst of someone who has lost a contest to an opponent he thought he would have defeated easily.
I remembered that day Nwoabuze appeared for Atiku in the just concluded PET with his speech full of emotions like a crying baby

This nailed it,agabi is not an electoral lawyer.most of his submissions were laced with emotions and layman appeal aa you rightly observed.most of what he raised were never raised before the court.
Compare his watery address to that of the great olanipekun and spot the difference

This sounds more like appealing to sentiment.

gawu1:

All l read from this address is emotion expression. But, Kanu as senior and experience lawyer he is, practicing the act for a very long time, ought to have known that court cases are not decided base on emotions. It is more or less an outburst of someone who has lost a contest to an opponent he thought he would have defeated easily.
I remembered that day Nwoabuze appeared for Atiku in the just concluded PET with his speech full of emotions like a crying baby

Oga, even with Uzodinma's fraudulent votes, he still did not meet the required geographical spread as decreed by the constitution.
Why then will the Supreme Court overlook such glaring fact and declare him winner?

Will you call that emotions?

Finally, Agabi is empty. Jeez. There is no substance in all he wrote there. Just sentiments and emotion. Finally Agabi will mess himself up. As I said earlier, pdp has no case at all. Any discerning mind comparing the appeal of olanipekun and this will know without bias that olanipekun is way ahead of Agabi. I'm really disappointed. Clutching on straw of sentiments and emotions. God, who did this to pdp. They will surely cry foul.

Maybe I’m missing something.
Indispensable85, dansuqi, chukel, can u folks educate us as to why “there is no substance, just sentiments and emotion” in the following, point by point:

((18)The judgment is unconstitutional in that it declared the 1st Respondent the winner of the election without proof that the votes accredited to him met the geographical spread stipulated in section 179 (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended)

((19)The judgment was obtained by fraud in that the votes upon which the 1st Respondent was declared as the winner of the election were in excess of the number of voters accredited for the election.

((20) The judgment was given per incuriam as your lordships by this judgment unwittingly sanctioned that total votes cast at an election can be in excess of the total number of accredited voters, as in this case, the total votes exceeded the total accredited voters by 129,340 votes.

(21) Furthermore, the judgment was given per incuriam in view of the 1st Respondent’s contention that the election was invalid by reason of non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) whereupon he prayed that a supplementary election should be held in the 388 disputed polling units where he claimed his votes were cancelled.