The appellate court aligned with the July 1, 2015 decision of the Justice Muhammad Sijaro-led tribunal which declared as incompetent and struck out the petition by the second runner-up in the said election, Jimi Agbaje, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party.
The five-man appeal panel, after dismissing Agbaje’s appeal, ordered him to compensate each of the respondents in the sum of N50,000.
The panel agreed with the tribunal that Agbaje’s failure to seek an order for a fresh election in his petition was fatal to the petition and had rendered it incompetent.
The higher court supported the decision of the tribunal that a court, not being a charitable organisation, could not grant an order that a litigant did not pray for.
The appellate court affirmed the reasoning and declaration of the tribunal, where it held that, “In the instant petition, apart from seeking an order nullifying the election of the second respondent, the petitioner did not ask for an order of fresh election. So, if, for instance, the election is nullified, the people of Lagos State would be left in an anarchy situation as no order can validly be made for the conduct of fresh election, same having not been sought for.
“A petition that is found on disqualification of a respondent and an order of nullification of the election must, of necessity, contain a prayer for an order of fresh election. Where such a prayer is lacking, the petition will be incompetent and academic as even the resolution of such a petition in favour of the petitioner will not confer any utilitarian value on the petitioner(s).
“Where no relief for fresh election is claimed in a petition, a ground of petition founded on section 138(1)(b) of the Electoral Act and the entire petition itself are incompetent and liable to be struck out.”
The appeal court, which described the prayer for a fresh election as the life wire of any election petition, rejected the argument by the appellant that the tribunal ought to have made the order as a consequential one, pursuant to its inherent power.
The appellate court held, “There is no doubt that one of the inherent powers of the court is to make consequential orders in the interest of justice, even when such orders have not been prayed for.
“But the inherent powers of a court to make consequential orders do not include the power to grant a substantive or principal relief.”
The appellate court also upheld the argument of the respondents that the appellant did not directly challenge and failed to successfully fault the grounds on which the tribunal based its judgment, when it dismissed the petition at the preliminary stage without going into the substance of the petition.
The appeal court said in the face of the irregularities in the petition, it would amount to “embarking on a journey to nowhere” for the tribunal to proceed into the main petition, as suggested by the appellant.
The higher court therefore dismissed Agbaje’s notice of appeal as earlier done by the tribunal.
Ambode had been returned winner of the April 11, 2015 poll by the Independent National Electoral Commission having polled 811,994 votes ahead of Agbaje, who polled 659,788 votes.
In his reaction, Ambode described the decision of the Court of Appeal as a vindication of the people’s mandate which was demonstrated on April 11.
The governor, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Habib Aruna, urged the opposition party to sheath its sword and join hands with his administration to move Lagos to the next level.
The statement read in part, “With the Appeal Court’s decision, I think it is time for us to put electioneering matters and its attendant issues behind us. Our victory at the polls had earlier been adjudged as fair and square. The tribunal confirmed this and now the appeal court has upheld that decision. Isn’t it time for our opponents to sheath their swords?”
Also, the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, described the ruling as a further confirmation of the victory of the APC and its candidate.
He said, “It is a further confirmation of the legality and authenticity of the victory of Mr. Governor and our great party.
“The verdict is a clear indication that the PDP and its candidate ought not to have challenged the result of the election in the first place because they were beaten fair and square.”
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