Today, 30th November,2017 at the Court of Appeal, Calabar the Appeal between Senator Bassey Albert and Hon. Bassey Etim has been determined.
Appearances
O. Ojibara, Esq for the appellant
Mba Ukweni, SAN leading 7ors for the 1st Respondent
G.A Umoh Esq leading Akpadiagha Ebitu and Ini Ememobong for the 2nd Respondent
Reading the judgement on behalf of his Learned brothers, Justice S. J.Ada,JCA held inter alia, that on the preliminary objection of the 1st Respondent(Bafil)bothering on the competence of the notice of appeal of the Appeallant, the notice of appeal is an originating process and the foundation upon which every other processes will rest on, ad there cannot therefore be an appeal without a notice of appeal. He stated that it is not the amount if notices of appealed filed that matters but the one upon which the Appeallant chooses to anchor his case on. The court therefore dismissed the preliminary objection for lacking in merit as substantive justice not technical justice is what the court is called upon to do.
On the main case, the court held on the 5 issues raised by the appellant as follows:
It is trite law that it is the responsibility of the political party to present candidates and that the recording of the result must be done on the specified sheet according to the guidelines of the party for the elections. The court held that a court cannot prospect for evidence but to evaluate evidence before her. The result sheet tendered by the appellant is in conformity with the guidelines whereas the result sheet submitted by the 1st Respondent (Bafil) is not consistent with the guidelines and therefore it is held that the result sheet tendered by the appellant (OBA) is admitted as being genuine and therefore ought to have been relied upon by the court below. The appellate court resolved issues 1,2 and 5 in favour if the appellant (OBA).
On issues 3 and 4 bothering on whether the court had the powers to grant reliefs not asked for by the claimants now 1st Respondent? The court held that
The claimant can only get what he claims and nothing more, adding that a judge should not Both are a case by wrongly evaluating the evidence before him. in the instant case, the court must be cautious in giving consequential orders. The issue of return of salaries and allowances were not consequential but substantive in nature and the lower court went on a hunting spree for evidence.
Therefore issues 3 and 4 are resolved in favour of the appellant.
The Appealate court in determining the controversy as to who was the winner of the nomination for uyo senatorial district the court will rely on the authentic result sheet which was that entered in the recommended sheet and supervised by the authorised persons to so act. It was further held that the trial court ought not to have discountenanced the documents tendered by the appellant.
The judgement of the lower court was perverse and can therefore not stand in view of the above, to this end the nomination of senator Bassey Albert is upheld and the judgement of the lower court is hereby set aside along with all the orders made therein.
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