Learned Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and international human rights lawyer, Mohammed Ndarani, has said that the judgment of the Benue State Local Government (LG) Election Appeal Tribunal in upholding the election of 23 Local Government Council (LGC) Chairmen and councillors in the state is a reflection of the position of the law.
Ndarami, SAN, said this while fielding questions from journalists after the decisions by the separate panels of the Appeal Tribunal—Benue North East (Zone A), Benue North West (Zone B), and Benue South (Zone C), chaired respectively by Justices M. Ugar, I. Mohammed, and D. M. Igyuse. He was the lead counsel for the Benue State Independent Electoral Commission (BSIEC).
According to Ndarani, SAN, Justices Igyuse, Ugar, and Mohammed are the heroes of the process that have stood firm for the cause of right.
The international human rights lawyer, therefore, congratulated the council Chairmen and Councilors on their victories and prayed for them to remain people-oriented.
He also congratulated the government of Benue State while appreciating all lawyers whose industry, commitment, and selfless efforts made the process a huge success.
The petitioners were largely aspirants from the same political party, All Progressives Congress (APC), as all the respondents (chairmen and councillors), and claimed they were rightly nominated but unjustly excluded from the election.
At the trial tribunal, split decisions left the chairmen winning in 14 and the petitioners winning in 9 out of the 23 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the state, leading to appeals from both ends.
Delivering the judgement for Zone A, Justice Ugar held that “to prove exclusion, the petitioners were duty bound to prove they were first validly nominated, and this they did not substantiate.”
Justice Ugar also held that the petitioners have failed to prove nomination and cannot lay claim to exclusion as such, “their case is bound to fail and hereby fails, and the same is dismissed.”
In Zone B, Justice Mohammed held that “the provisions of the Benue State Law, 2007 puts the issue of nomination of candidates out of the jurisdiction of the trial tribunal. The issue of nomination of a candidate is within the domestic affairs of a political party and can not be litigated at the trial tribunal or this appeal tribunal.”
He also said, “They do not see a wood in the tree canvassed vigorously by the petitioners. We sit to do justice and not to supervise academic issues. We affirm the judgment of the trial tribunal and dismiss the appeal of the Petitioners/Appellants.”
In the Delivery Judgment for Zone C, the Appeal Tribunal Chairman, Justice Igyuse, said, “The grievances of the petitioners before the lower tribunal could not and cannot be litigated at the tribunal nor the appeal tribunal. The Petitioners’ Petitions are but a reckless display of academic prowess without, of course, a destination.”
He finally held that “The consolidated petitions of the petitioners in all of Zone C are dismissed, and the LG election of 5th October 2024 and the return of its winners is hereby upheld.”
Three petitions filed by the PDP and an earlier petition filed by the Labour Party, which had already been decided, were all also thrown out.
With the decisions, the October 5, 2024, election and return of all council Chairmen and Councillors is upheld.
