Election suit: Oshiomhole wins at Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Friday set aside the ruling of the Court of Appeal, which ordered the Edo State Elections Petitions Tribunal to hear afresh the matter of non-qualification of Governor Adams Oshiomhole for the July 14, 2012 Edo State gubernatorial election.
Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour, who read the Supreme Court judgement, said the Court of Appeal erred in its ruling as the Edo Elections Petitions Tribunal, which earlier struck out the paragraphs relating to non-qualification, was correct in doing so.
The Supreme Court maintained that the respondent, Major General Charles Airhiavbere, made an unpardonable blunder of not including the ground of non-qualification in the original pleadings at the tribunal.
The apex court maintained that the court is not a father christmas that dishes out what is not asked for and that a party is bound by his pleadings.
The Supreme Court also said that there is no nexus between the issue of non-qualification and alleged corrupt practices in the election.
It subsequently ordered the tribunal to hear paragraph 30 of the petition, which sought to disqualify votes in 61 out of 2,642 units in the state over alleged electoral malpractice.
It would be recalled that the Edo State Elections Petitions tribunal had, on September 27, 2012, dismissed the petition filed by Airhiavbere in which he challenged the educational qualifications of Oshiomhole, describing it as a wild goose chase.
In his ruling, the Tribunal Chairman, Suleiman Ambursa, said the petition is a pre-election matter that ought to have been dispensed with long before the July 14, 2012 governorship election.
Ambursa said in line with the provisions of the constitution, candidates are expected to submit copies of their documents to the Independent Electoral Commission before the election and that the same constitution mandates the electoral body to publish the said documents in order that any other candidate that is not satisfied with the information therein contained might approach the Federal High Court for appropriate interpretation.
Dissatisfied with the tribunal ruling, Airhiavbere approached the Court of Appeal to quash the tribunal ruling and restore some paragraphs in the petition.
In its ruling given on November 15, 2012, the Court of Appeal, sitting in Benin, the Edo State capital, in a unanimous ruling, ordered that the petition filled by Airhiavbere be remitted to the lower Tribunal “for trial denovo.”
The Chairman of the three-man panel, Justice Helen Ogunwumiju, said the tribunal was wrong to have said it lacked jurisdiction on Oshiomhole’s academic qualification being a pre-election matter that should be heard by the conventional court.
The appellate court said by the provision of Section 177 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, the lower tribunal had jurisdiction to entertain Airhiavbere’s petition bordering on Oshiomhole’s qualification because the court could hear pre-election and election matters on qualification.
Not comfortable with the Court of Appeal ruling, Oshiomhole approached the Supreme Court, which, in its judgment, faulted the ruling and upheld the decision of the tribunal.