Godwin Tsa, Abuja

The Abuja division of the Court of Appeal has reserved judgments in three separate appeals filed on the sack of  Dino Melaye  as Senator representing Kogi West by the National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal.

The appeals were  brought by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) and Dino Melaye.

The appellants are praying the court to set aside the decision of the tribunal to void the victory of Melaye in the February 23 election.

After listening to final arguments by counsel for both parties,  Justice Abubakar Datti Yahaya-led three-member panel announced that a date for the delivery of  judgment would be communicated to parties once it is fixed.

Counsel to the PDP, represented by Jubrin Okutepa (SAN) prayed the Court to set aside the majority decision of the tribunal against Melaye on the ground of denial of fair hearing and refusal to evaluate evidence adduced during the hearing.

The party submitted that the tribunal failed to evaluate the testimonies of its witnesses, while no reference was made to all the documentary evidence it supplied before the tribunal.

PDP further claimed that the tribunal turned the head of natural justice upside down when it based the over voting used in cancelling the senatorial election on the number of collected permanent voter cards, rather than on the voter register as required by law.

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PDP therefore urged the three-man panel Appeal Court justices to invoke section 16 of the Court of Appeal Act and dismiss the petition for lacking in merit.

In the second appeal filed by INEC, through its lawyer, Kola Olowookere, the Appeal Court was urged to dismiss the allegation of mutilation of election result and favouring of a particular candidate as alleged by Senator Smart Adeyemi and the APC.

The electoral body argued that findings of over voting by the tribunal was wrong and baseless, because the voter register and results of election in 2015 tallied with the result in the disputed area.

The electoral body alleged that the tribunal did not evaluate the exhibits it tendered to prove that there was no over voting.

The third appeal filed by Dino Melaye and argued by Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), urged the Appeal Court to set aside the over voting decision of the tribunal because it was based on hearsay, instead of polling units agents’ results

Ikeazu drew the attention of the Justices to the fact that only three witnesses were called by Adeyemi, adding that the evidence of three witnesses based on hearsay cannot justify the cancellation of the senatorial election.

Senator Adeyemi and the All Progressives Congress (APC) opposed the arguments of the appellants and pleaded with the appellate court to dismiss the three appeals because the appellants were not denied fair hearing, and the tribunal based its findings on over voting on the report of INEC which comprehensively contained the number of collected voter cards unit by unit.