Date: 2010-06-17

The Appeal Court sitting in Ilorin , yesterday dismissed the appeal filed by the Peoples Progressive Party’s gubernatorial candidate (PPA), Aminat Oyinkansola Saraki, challenging the victory of the incumbent Governor of Kwara State, Dr Bukola Saraki in the April 2007 governorship election for lack of merit.

In the judgement delivered by Justice Mojeed Owoade, the Court held that the appeal lacks merit and accordingly dismissed the appellants suit and also awarded the sum of N50,000:00 as costs in favour of each of the four respondents.

The appellants, PPA and Miss Oyinkansola Saraki, had in February 2009, appealed the earlier judgement of the Governorship and Legislative Houses Election Petition Tribunal, which ruled in favour of the incumbent Governor, Dr Bukola Saraki of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as winner of the 2007 governorship election in the State.

The appellants had prayed the tribunal to nullify the election of Dr Saraki and ordered a fresh election on the ground that Oyinkansola’s name was excluded from the list of contestants for the 2007 governorship election in the State by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Dismissing the appeal, Justice Owoade held that the Peoples Progressive Party was not duly recognized as at the time of the election, stressing that a non-registered political party could therefore not claimed exclusion of its candidate’s name from the list at an election.

Reacting to the judgement, the State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Dr Ali Ahmad described the judgement as a welcome development and long overdue.

The Attorney General disclosed that the appellant alleged that she was sponsored by a political party that was not known in Nigeria , the Peoples Progressive Alliance, adding that the judgement was an eye opener in the judicial reform.

Dr Ahmad argued that there was a marked difference between Progressive Peoples Alliance which the law recognized and Peoples Progressive Alliance, under which the second appellant was presented as a candidate.

He said the on-going electoral reform in the country should ensure that not all political parties that participated in an election have the right to challenge election results in the law court to avoid unnecessary delays and time wasting, especially the unregistered political parties.

Dr Ahmad also observed that the current political system was characterized with electoral flaws which allow any political party or an individual to go to court and waste the peoples’ precious time.

The Commissioner, who described the case as a monumental waste of time, said the political party of the appellant, Peoples Progressive Alliance was not known to the nation’s law.

Ahmad, however, enjoined stakeholders of the nation’s electoral reform to address the flaws inherent in the electoral system to further strengthen democracy in the country.


Mas’ud Adebimpe
Chief Press Secretary to the Kwara State Governor
17/06/10