Seriki Adinoyi in Jos
Plateau State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal on yesterday reserved judgment in the election petition by Senator Jeremiah Useni against Governor Simon Lalong to a date to be communicated to the counsel in the matter after the parties adopted all the final written addresses.
The lead counsel to Lalong, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), told the tribunal in his adoption of his written address that although he relied on his address, very cogent reasons were required to upturn the verdict of an election, adding that unfortunately the petitioners had failed to provide any entitlement to any of the reliefs sought.
Fagbemi told the tribunal that there were 742 polling units and 69 wards in the state, adding that the 71 witnesses called by the petitioners to bolster their petition performed abysmally low, urging the tribunal to discountenance the petition, insisting that their evidence should not be given any consideration.
Counsel to the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Garba Pwul (SAN), also urged the tribunal to hold that Lalong was eminently qualified to contest the governorship election, which he eventually won, and urged the tribunal to dismiss the ground challenging his qualification.
On his part, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), lead counsel to Useni, told the panel that electoral process must be respected so that the votes of the electorate should not only be counted but should be allowed to count, adding that Lalong is a pretender as he was not elected as governor by lawful votes.
Ozekhome said that since Lalong was a pretender to the throne, it should be seized from him and be given to the rightful owner of the throne who is Senator Jeremiah Timbut Useni.
He added that the ‘governor’ smuggled his way through the window.
He said the decided cases cited by Fagbemi in Nyeson Wike against Peterside and that of Gondir against Nyako did not hold water in the current proceedings.
On the contradictory names submitted by Lalong in his electoral forms, Ozekhome said it was a bundle of contradictions as he claimed to be Sule Simon in one breath and in another, Sule Bako, before later arriving at Simon Bako Lalong.
According to him, Lalong while preparing for his WAEC, swore to an oath in his affidavit he deposed to, did not say he was Sule Simon Lalong but that his new name is Simon Bako Lalong.
“He did not attach his primary certificate to his electoral forms. He said he was changing from Sule Simon Lalong to Simon Bako Lalong. In fact, Lalong was not qualified to contest the governorship election in the first place.”
Ozekhome added that while filling his election form, Lalong wrote “dash” in the column where he was asked whether he ever had another name, thereby lying on oath which was perjury punishable in law, urging the tribunal to declare Useni winner or at worst re-election be ordered.
Speaking with journalists outside the court, Ozekhome said that there cannot be two Emirs or Obas in one palace, adding that “Lalong has to vacate the palace for the rightful occupant who is General JT USeni who won the election and whom the people of Plateau State voted for, and who ought to be declared winner.
“We merely said as an alternative that in the event that the court did not find our contention on the name, in the worst scenario, when you deflate and inflate the votes that were cancelled and mutilated, then you will find that the margin of winning is less than the margin of those votes that were cancelled or mutilated. In which case, a re-run ought to be ordered. That is just an alternative.
“The main issue has to do with who contested the election. Form C is a form of INEC which is prescribed under Section 183 of the Electoral Act, which also gives INEC power to make guidelines. That form itself is a solemn oath. In fact, the latest decided case of the Supreme Court in Modibbo, described it as a certificate.
“So, when you swear to it, you are swearing that everything you are saying in it is correct and true to the best of your knowledge. The only certificate which is supposed to be a qualifying certificate owned by Governor Lalong bears the name ‘Sule Simon’. Meanwhile, in his change of name, he never referred to the name Sule Simon or that he ever changed his name. when it came to that column, “Have you ever had different names? He said NIL-dash. NIL dash means ‘no’ which is a false declaration.
“And in his affidavit of change of name, he was changing from “Sule Lalong Simon” to “Sule Bako Lalong.” So, we have here a crisis of three names, which he ought to have come to the tribunal to explain by himself or call people from WAEC to say it is the same Sule Simon that bears this name. He has never referred to Sule Simon which is on his qualification. This automatically shows that he has no qualification to contest the election. Although he may have LLB, LLM, PhD but he cannot build something upon nothing. That is what the Supreme Court has said in many cases,” Ozekhome contended.
In his own briefing to the journalists, Pwul said that the burden of proof lies on the petitioners because they are the ones challenging the results declared by INEC.
“We are only defending what the INEC has done. We are very comfortable that there has been no evidence sufficient to dislodge the results declared by INEC. As we have demonstrated in court, we are very confident that there is no material presented by the petitioners upon which the election results declared by INEC can be overturned by the tribunal because on our part, we are very confident that any evidence given has been sufficiently countered and dislodged by the evidence of the witnesses.
“We are very confident that the tribunal will do justice in this matter. We are confident that there is no cause for alarm as far as our client is concerned,” Pwul submitted.
On the change of names by Lalong, Pwul said that “it is not a strange matter as there are sufficient documents attached to the affidavit, showing that he did everything possible according to law. And don’t forget that INEC itself went through all these documents and the witness from INEC, PW71 gave evidence that INEC was sufficiently satisfied that the governor disclosed everything necessary that qualified him to contest the election.”
