Supreme Court upholds Cross River gov’s election

The Supreme Court has upheld the election of Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State.  The court, in a unanimous judgment by a five-man panel, dismissed an appeal raised by a lawyer, Joe Agi (SAN) against an earlier decision of the Court of Appeal, which upheld Ayade’s election. Agi had participated in the governorship primary of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on December 8, 2014, from which Ayade emerged as the party’s candidate for the 2015 election. Agi later challenged Ayade’s victory in the primary and his eventual victory at the election, raising issues of age and party membership. It was Agi’s contention at the trial court that Ayade was not a valid member of the PDP, as at when he participated in the primary, because he allegedly defaulted in his dues. Agi also queried Ayade’s candidacy on the ground that he falsified his age. He claimed that Ayade falsely represented his date of birth in his nomination form submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other records as March 2, 1968 and March 2, 1969.  He sought Ayade’s disqualification on those grounds, and prayed the court to among others, disqualify Ayade and void his election. The Federal High Court, Abuja dismissed the suit for lacking in merit. Agi appealed to the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which, in a judgment on February 5, 2016, also dismissed the appeal, a decision Agi later appealed to the Supreme Court. Justice Clara Ogunbiyi, who read the lead judgement of the Supreme Court Friday, said it was not the responsibility of the court to determine who is a member of a political party. The Judge said political parties are like voluntary association and that the issue of determining who is a member is internal to the political party. She said since there were evidences that the PDP cleared Ayade to contest election as its candidate, it was not for the court to begin to inquire how the party arrived at its decision.