Appeal Court sets aside Ondo tribunal verdict

The Court of Appeal sitting in Akure, Ondo State, on Friday, set aside the ruling of National and state Houses of Tribunal dismissing the two petitions of All Progressives Congress (APC) candidates for Akure South Constituency I, Mr Festus Aregbesola and Ilaje Constituency II, Hon. Gbenga Edema.
In a unanimous verdict of the Court read by Hon Justice Mojeed Owoade, the presiding judge of Akure division of the Court of Appeal, the Court found merit in the appeal filed by Charles Titiloye, counsel to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and set aside the order of the Tribunal dismissing the petitions.
The Court directed the constitution of a new panel of judges of the Election Tribunal to retry the election petitions on merits.
The Court of Appeal held that the application made for Pre-hearing session by the appellants counsel, Charles Titiloye, was properly made within the contemplation of Paragraph 18 (1) of the first schedule to the Electoral Act and the tribunal erred in law to have dismissed the petitions as abandoned. The court reasoned that the tribunal was in the third day of pre-hearing session and hence the petition cannot be said to be an abandoned petition.
It further held that even if the application for pre-hearing session was made prematurely, all the Respondents are deemed to have waived such non-compliance under paragraph 53(2) by participating in the pre-hearing session, filing applications and arguing same without objecting to the pre-hearing session for three days.
The Court of Appeal noted that paragraph 18 (1) of the First Schedule to the Electoral Act did not use the word close of pleadings as the basis for application for pre-hearing. It was wrong, therefore, for the Tribunal to have imported the provision from the Federal High Court rules on close of pleadings which was not expressly contained in the Electoral Act to dismiss the petition.
The court agreed with Titiloye that the tribunal lacks jurisdiction to have raised an objection to the petition and dismissed the petition based on the said objection when the tribunal had earlier ruled that all objections will be heard along with the substantive petition.
The court held that the Tribunal was functus officio after making the said ruling and cannot, thereafter, raise the objection suo motu and rule on it without hearing the petition on its merit based on its earlier ruling.
It held that the view of the trial court that application for pre-hearing ought to be made for each and every Respondent is an obiter dictum which is not the reason of the judgement of the said tribunal.
Similarly, the court restored three other petitions of APC in Idanre, Ilaje Constituency I and Akoko North East struck out by the Justice Anthony Ogar-led Election Tribunal and directed the tribunal to hear the petitions on their merit.