Tribunal sacks Agagu, declares Mimiko winner

[funmilayo]

Tribunal sacks Agagu, declares Mimiko winner


Fawehinmi, Others Laud Verdict

From Niyi Bello and Julius Alabi, Akure, Samson Ezea Lagos, Ifedayo
Sayo, Ado Ekiti

ANOTHER Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governor, Dr. Olusegun Agagu of
Ondo State, has lost his job. The Elections Petitions Tribunal sitting
in Akure, the State capital yesterday upturned his victory at the
April 14, last year polls.

SWEET VICTORY: Dr. Olusegun Mimiko (middle), his wife Oluwakemi and
mother Madam Muyinatu Mimiko yesterday in Ondo town after the verdict
that gave victory of April 14, last year governorship election to the
candidate of the Labour Party
PHOTO: SAM OLOSEGUN-ALADE

The five-man Justice Garba Nabaruma-led tribunal declared the
petitioner, Dr. Olusegun Rahman Mimiko of the Labour Party (LP) as the
winner of the election, "having scored majority of the lawful votes
cast and having satisfied the constitutional requirements needed to be
declared for the office of the governor."

The judgment, which was lauded by eminent lawyer Chief Gani Fawehinmi
(SAN) and others, led to a wild celebration in the state capital with
residents dancing on the streets and motorists honking their horns on
the streets, which had hitherto be

Reports from other parts of the state indicated that people rejoiced
at the outcome, with many trooping to worship centres for thanksgiving
services and others to the bars.

In a one-hour judgment that was delivered inside Court Two of the
Akure High Court premises, venue of the tribunal under heavy security,
Nabaruma who read the unanimous decision, said the petitioner proved
his case of irregularities beyond reasonable doubt.

He said the tribunal was convinced that the election was not done in
substantial compliance with the provision of the Electoral Act 2006 in
the four councils where the petitioner alleged massive irregularities
and where he prayed the judges to cancel returns.

Litigation over the controversial polls began a month after the
exercise when Mimiko filed a 45,000-page petition asking the newly
constituted tribunal to declare him as the duly elected governor.

Mimiko, popularly known as Iroko because of his deep grassroots
political machinery that is present throughout the state, also
accompanied the petition with several loads of documentary evidence to
support his claims that he, indeed, won the polls.

Mimiko alleged that the election that returned Agagu was characterized
by rigging and manipulation of results, unprecedented acts of
violence, thuggery, abduction and coercion of opponents at the local
councils, towns, villages, settlements, wards and polling stations. He
also prayed that the tribunal should cancel Agagu's election because
of unlawful interference in the electoral process by political office
holders in Ondo State, who contrary to Section 46 of the Electoral Act
personally took charge on polls day by signing results as agents of
the PDP.

However, Agagu through his counsel, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), urged
the Tribunal to uphold his declaration as winner of the election by
the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) because the
people of the state duly elected him and argued that the petitioner
had not been able to prove that the polls was massively rigged in
favour of the governor.

In the judgment, the tribunal tackled three areas of objection by the
respondents that, apart from Agagu included the PDP, INEC and the
Police.

The first ground on whether the petition should be struck out because
the petitioner could not question the decision of INEC which was
legally constituted to carry out electoral functions, was dismissed by
the tribunal while another argument on whether the tribunal's
jurisdiction was ousted was equally thrown out.

The tribunal relied on many cited authorities particularly on the
contention of the respondents that non-joining of electoral officers
was enough to invalidate the petition. It held that contrary to the
position of the respondents that ad-hoc staff of INEC should be
joined, the 2006 Electoral Act stated that once the commission was
listed as a respondent, the tribunal could entertain the matter.

Another ground on which the respondents prayed the Tribunal to throw
out the petition was that Section 145 of the Electoral Act 2006, which
defined electoral malpractices, did not mention irregularities, which
Mimiko alleged.

Nabaruma said the law did not require the petitioner to copy verbatim
all the words in the section but that "the word used by the petitioner
in his petition is valid in the case at hand."

Concluding the judgment, the tribunal declared that having perused all
the documents before it and listened to the testimonies of the
witnesses that included experts brought from abroad, it had no choice
but to annul the election in Irele and Ilaje local councils while 10
wards were cancelled in Akoko North East, nine units in Akoko North
West, five wards in Akure North, four wards in Ile-Oluji/Oke-Igbo,
five wards in Odigbo and all the wards in Ese-Odo except Apoi 1 ward
1.

The tribunal stated that out of the total lawful votes of 403,903, the
LP scored 198,269 to Agagu's 128,669 thereby leaving Mimiko with
69,600 winning ballots.

The LP candidate was also said to have satisfied the constitutional
requirement of scoring a quarter of at least two-thirds of the votes
in the local councils with more than the required number in 13
councils. On the other hand, Agagu scored less than the required
number in nine councils.

However, Agagu at a press conference at the Government House,
Alagbaka, shortly after the judgment" said:

"We believe in Project Nigeria. We believe in the judicial system and
the rule of law. We have accepted the verdict of the panel. We,
however, briefed our lawyers and have been told that the copy of the
judgment will be available to us in a few hours time, and we have
taken a decision that we shall go on appeal.

"I will appeal as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, and
our party, will also appeal. We have 21 days by law to do this, and we
want to assure our people that within that time limit, a valid notice
of appeal will be legally filed.

"What this means is that the battle is still on. We will go from here
to the court of appeal, a higher court that has been given the
jurisdiction to adjudicate when people at the lower panel feel
aggrieved.For Mimiko, the judgment "has made the Nigerian judiciary
taller."

He also thanked God for intervening in the matter.

Speaking to reporters in Akure shortly after the judgment, the former
Minister for Housing and Urban Development said: "The judgment is an
affirmation of the will of the masses in Ondo State, and it has made
Nigerian judiciary taller.

"In totality, I am very happy; justice has eventually prevailed after
lots of victimization, vilification, attack, deprivation and denial.

"God has perfected everything; we are now setting out for action and
without any iota of doubt, we will deploy all veritable means to re-
design the state for effective governance".

He thanked President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua for creating an enabling
environment that has allowed the judiciary to thrive, stressing that
it was his commitment to the rule of law that assisted in correcting
the anomaly witnessed during last year's governorship election.

He, therefore, praised the people of the state for their courage,
assuring them that he would run a people-driven government that would
empower them in his four-year rule.

In a swift reaction to the judgment, Fawehinmi described it as a "cast-
iron victory for truth and a clear-cut expression of the electoral
wishes of the Ondo State people."

In a statement Fawehinmi who is an indigene of the state added: "I
congratulate all the members of the Election Petition Tribunal for
their courage and honesty which are the pillars and hallmarks of the
Rule of Law.

"Agagu should not prolong the agony of Ondo State by lodging appeal.
Such an appeal will be a meaningless exercise. The Ondo State people
have suffered so much as a result of the diabolically rigged
election.

"All those who were adjudged involved in the criminal breaches of the
electoral laws should be prosecuted.

"I appeal to Dr. Mimiko to make his administration the best, most
progressive and most incorruptible for the Ondo State people."

Also, the LP's national chairman, Chief Dan Nwanyanwu and Conference
of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) have lauded the tribunal.

Speaking with The Guardian yesterday Nwanyanwu said the judgment
fulfilled the expectations of the people considering that "Agagu did
not win election."

The CNPP's National Publicity Secretary, Mr Osita Okechukwu, lauded
the tribunal for upholding justice in the judgment "despite
temptation, intimidation and overtures from the ruling government."

He said the honourable judges engraved their names in the democracy
hall of fame and that the judgment came at a time when many Nigerians
had started to lose confidence in the judiciary, following "jaundiced
judgments that came from the Appeal Tribunals recently."

The Ekiti State chapter of the Action Congress (AC) in a statement
praised the judiciary for the landmark ruling saying that despite the
disappointment over some recent rulings, it had again proved that
Nigerians could entrust their destiny in the hands of Judges.

"The yoke of electoral burden imposed on Nigerians by the duopoly of
INEC and PDP is being eased by the judiciary and in no distant time,
the manacles that these devious Siamese twins of PDP and INEC hung on
the limbs of our democracy would be loosened," the AC said.


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