The Conundrum Of Bayelsa Tribunal Judgment And The Fate Of The All Progressives Congress (APC)

By David Tobi Oyesowo Esq

Many activities prelude the conduct of elections. These activities are varied in dimensions as they range from declaration of interest by eligible candidates under a preferred political party, to the struggles that permeate the primary elections, and finally to the great battle of the titans that will eventually crown the winning candidate, which is the main election.

These activities are not without their dramas and intricacies. One of the intricacies is the avoidable occurrence that shook the whole country with the Supreme Court Judgment in the Bayelsa Election, on the eve of the swearing in of Mr. Lyon. This judgment no doubt shook the country with wild applause and condemnation from different opinion givers.

The judgment, not only shook the country, it redefined the political landscape in the oil rich state, as it ushered in “a new order” other than what the electorate bargained for.

Be that as it is may, that is gone.

However on 17^th August, 2020, the tribunal sitting in Abuja handed down her judgment, and nullified the election of Mr. Diri and ordered a fresh election to be conducted within 90 days. The tribunal predicated her judgment on the ground that, the ANDP Logo was omitted on the ballot in the February Election.

The position of the law is clear concerning the grounds for an election to be nullified as contained in Section 138 of the Electoral Act. One of the salient grounds is that the petitioner must have been unlawfully excluded from the election. A ground which the ANDP prayed for and was upheld by the Honorable Court (tribunal). See Section 285(2) of the 1999 CFRN As Amended.

Interestingly, this judgment has revived the hope of party faithfuls on the likely comeback of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress who was the initial winner before tragedy struck.

It is imperative to state that the judgment handed down yesterday by the tribunal is subject to an appeal up to the Supreme Court by the affected parties and without prejudice to the right of the affected party, I wish them well.

However, assuming without conceding that the Supreme Court upholds the judgment of the tribunal and holds that “fresh” election should be conducted within 90 days, the question is, “Does APC stand a chance?”

This has made me to look for the meaning of the word “FRESH” in the Law Dictionary which means “a course just starting”.

It is imperative to also bear in mind that according to the INEC Guidelines and Electoral Act particularly section 33, political parties can only make replacement of their candidates within a period of 30days which has since lapsed. This above position will be the arguments and opinion of some persons as regards the judgment and by this position, the APC has been shut out.

However, the jurisprudence of law is to enable lawyers to think outside the box and in this case, I will appraise the meaning of the word “fresh”.

In the legal parlance, it means DE NOVO, which means starting fresh, or over again. In BABATUNDE .V. PAN ATLANTIC SHIPPING AND TRANSPORT AGENCIES LTD & ORS (2007) LPELR – 698-SC, the Supreme Court holds “De Novo” as ‘New’, “a fresh beginning” “a start”.

Per Muhammed JSC said the consequence of a De Novo is as if nothing had “existed”.

Similarly in OBINWENBI .V. CBN (2011) LPELR -2185 (SC) PER RHODES VIVOUR JSC held that fresh is to start DE NOVO, or to start all over again.

In other words, where fresh election is ordered as in this instance, it is assumed that the earlier elections and proceedings will be jettisoned and a new course of event will be allowed to flow. If this position is upheld, with the conduct of fresh election, it will open the gate for APC and its candidates to participate in the election.

It is necessary to state as well that court orders must be expressed to avoid imputations from litigants, where the orders contained in the judgment do not expressly state that the APC and its candidate should be exempted, there is nothing stopping INEC from allowing APC to participate in the elections, more so that the Supreme Court Judgment that sacked Mr. David Lyon was based on a pre-election matter.

David Tobi Oyesowo Esq, An Associate at P.A.O. Olorunnisola SAN & Co.