Appeal Court urged to hear case against Reps member, Wayo

…Appellant seeks hearing of appeal on his brief alone The Court of Appeal in Makurdi has been asked to hear an appeal pending against a House of Representatives member, Benjamin Wayo (representing Kwande/Ushango Federal Constituency of Benue State). The request is contained in a fresh motion filed by the appellant, Engr. George Nduul, who is challenging Wayo’s claim to being the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the 2015 legislative election. Nduul, in the motion filed by his lawyer, Mahmud Magaji (SAN), wants the court to hear the appeal he filed based on his brief alone, the respondents having failed to file their respondents’ briefs within the 30 days period allowed by the court’s rules. Listed as respondents in the appeal marked: CA/MK/16/2016 are Wayo, APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). He said his brief of argument was filed on February 29, 2016; the 1st respondents (Wayo) served, for the third time, on July 3, 2017, while the 2nd and 3rd respondents were served on June 12, 2017. Nduul’s appeal is against the December 10, 2015 judgment by Justice Binta Nyako (then of the Federal High Court, Makurdi), in which Nduul’s suit, challenging Wayo’s qualification to participate in APC’s primary, was dismissed on grounds that it lacked merit. Nduul had alleged, in his suit, that Wayo did not comply with the APC’s guidelines by not paying necessary fees, the mandatory N2m, and was not issued with the required clearance certificate by the party’s screening committee to participate in the primary. He stated that upon enquiry, he discovered that Wayo’s appointment as Magistrate 11 was terminated by the Benue State Judicial Service Commission (BSJSC) for being of “doubtful integrity,” for “violating the code of conduct relating to judicial officers.” Nduul said, upon discovering that Wayo did not comply with the party’s guidelines, he appealed to the APC’s Appeal Committee for National Assembly primaries in Benue State, which allegedly voided Wayo’s candidacy and directed that he, having emerged second at the primary, be made the party’s candidate. He added that APC’s National Working Committee (NWC), acting on behalf of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC), accepted the Appeal Committee’s report, approved his candidacy and directed that he should be issued with the necessary INEC forms as the party’s duly nominate candidate. Nduul said despite these development, some leaders of APC in Benue still proceeded to submit Wayo’s name to INEC as APC’s candidate, prompting him to sue at the Federal High Court, Makurdi. In his appeal, Nduul faulted the judgment of the Federal High Court, delivered on December 10, 2016, in which the court held that he failed to prove his allegations that Wayo was not qualified to stand for the election. Nduul, who raised about 11 grounds of appeal, argued that the trial court failed to consider all evidence he placed before it and allegedly went out of its way to fish for evidence on its own. He contended that “it is the law that the duty of a trial court is strictly limited and confined to the issues arising from the pleading. “A trial court is not allowed to go on a wild goose chase or embark on academic exercise in which all sort of questions are discussed at will without reference to pleading of parties, the evidence laid, the issues and admissibility and relevance of the evidence before the court.” Nduul urged the appellate court to, among others, set aside the judgement of the trial court, order Wayo’s sack and uphold the APC’s NWC’s decision, recognising him as the true candidate of the party.]]>