Tobi Soniyi in Abuja
The All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Timipre Sylva, has appealed the July 26, 2016 judgment of the election tribunal which upheld the return of Seriake Dickson as winner of the last governorship election in the state.
His party, APC, also filed a separate appeal.
In the appeal filed before the Court of Appeal, Abuja on August 14, 2016 by their lawyer, Sebastine Hon (SAN), they asked the appellate court to set aside the judgment of the tribunal.
They raised 24 grounds of appeal upon which they disagreed with the judgment of the tribunal.
They argued that the three-member tribunal, led by Justice Kazeem Alogba, misled itself, misapplied the law and came to a wrong conclusion in its verdict.
Sylva and APC asked the Court of Appeal to, among others, set aside the judgment and grant his reliefs as contained in his petition or the alternative reliefs, including cancellation of the election and ordering fresh one.
The former governor and his party argued that the tribunal erred in law when it held that the reasons given by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to cancel the election was within the provision Section 26 (1) of the Electoral Act (EA) 2010.
According to them, Section 26 (1) of the Electoral Act has no provision for ‘cancellation’ of election, but ,postponement’ of election.
They argued that the phrase ‘other emergencies’ under Section 26 (1) E A was limited to the action of INEC ‘postponing’ an election and not ‘cancelling one that had already taken place.’
Further details later
