BREAKING: Benue guber tussle: Jime floors Ortom in court

By Kula Tersoo and Berger Alfred Emberga Mrp

Emmanuel Jime of the All Progressives Party (APC) has floored the trio of INEC, Gov. Samuel Ortom and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in 3 interlocutory appeals filed in at the Court of Appeal in Makurdi.

Emmanuel Jime and his party, the APC are before the Governorship Elections petitions tribunal challenging the declaration of Samuel Ortom as the winner of the 2019/Governorship elections.

In the first appeal, Samuel Ortom who is the 2nd respondent in the petition in Appeal No. CA/MKD/EP/GOV/11/2019, that PW15, Joe Abaagu whose name appeared as petitioner’s counsel was not competent to testify on the case.

However, in the unanimous judgement delivered by Justice Helen Moronkeji Ogunwumije the full panel of the court of appeal upheld the preliminary objection raises by the respondents (Jime/APC) and held that the supplementary records from the tribunal were compiled and transmitted to the Appeal Court out of time, there rendering the entire appeal incompetent. There therefore pronounced that the appeal was accordingly struck out.
On the merit of the appeal, the court held that, PW15 (Joe Abaagu) was competent to testify at the lower tribunal, even though his name was listed as one of the petitioner’s counsel in the petition.

In the 2nd and 3rd appeal brought by Jime/APC in Appeal No: CA/MKD/EP/GOV/13/2019 and Appeal No: CA/MKD/EP/GOV/13/2019, the appellants had challenged the ruling of the lower tribunal rejecting the smart card report on the ground that it was not properly headed.
But in the lead judgement delivered by Onyekachi A. Otisi, JCA, the full panel of the court of appeal held that the decision of the trial tribunal in which the Smart Card Reader Report was rejected and so marked was in error. They allowed the appeal.
Jime/APC had also challenged the ruling of the tribunal ruling rejecting the main statement on oath of PW15 (Joe Abaagu) on the ground that the chairman’s copy of the said statement was neither signed nor commissioned by the secretary of the tribunal.
In their ruling, the justices of the court of appeal described the decision by the the chairman of tribunal striking out the statement of PW15 as amounting to “high handedness”. The full panel of the court of appeal allowed the appeal declaring that the failure of the secretary to commission the statements cannot be visited on the petitioners. That “in any case, the responsibility of signing the column for commissioner for oaths does not rest on the hapless witness, but court officials, who apparently did it substantially, as no other person apart from the chairman complained of the anomaly.

” It is for these reasons and the fuller and more elaborate reasons given by my learned brother that I also allow this appeal, set aside the decision of the trial tribunal”.

In his response, state chairman of APC, Comrade Aba Yaro hailed the court for doing justice to the appeals.

He called on his party members to remain calm and prayerful, saying with God, Jime and APC shall triumph to the end.

Recall that since the case began at the tribunal, there has been 6 interlocutory appeals from both the petitioners and respondents all of which have been accordingly resolved in favour of the petitioners.