Appeal Court Removes Iyiola Omisore from the Senate

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By Seyi Oduyela

Published: October 30, 2009

 

Appeal  Court  Removes Iyiola  Omisore from the Senate

By Seyi Oduyela, Tayo Adelaja and Shamsydeen Badmus

The Court of Appeal, sitting in Ibadan yesterday, sacked Iyiola Omisore, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation. He ceases to be a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The three-member panel, headed by Clara Ogunbiyi, unanimously ruled that the April 14, 2007 election in which Mr. Omisore was declared the winner, was characterized by widespread irregularities and non-compliance with the Electoral Act of 2003.

Appeal Court Decides

Delivering her lead judgment yesterday, Justice Ogunbiyi said the petitioner, Babajide Omoworare, the Action Congress (AC) candidate in the 2007 election, had succeeded in six out of the seven reliefs he sought from the court. Apart from the first prayer, where the appellant wanted the Appeal Court to declare Mr. Omisore unfit for the election on the grounds of being impeached as the deputy governor of Osun State, Mr Omoworare’ s other six prayers, which essentially bordered on election irregularities and non-compliance with the electoral law, sailed through.

The Court of Appeal ruling overturned that of the Osun state election petition tribunal which had earlier thrown out Mr. Omoworare’ s petition seeking the nullification of Mr. Omisore election. In that particular case, the petitioner had posited that since Mr. Omisore was impeached as the deputy governor of Osun state in December 2002 for financial misconduct, he was not qualified to contest the election in the first place. He also alleged that widespread irregularities observed during the election, particularly in Ife Central, Ife North and Ife South gave Mr. Omisore undue advantage over other contestants and led him to being declared winner of the election. He then asked the tribunal to void the votes in the areas in contention and return him the winner of the election, with the remaining votes.

Tribunal’s Decision

In spite of the barrage of evidences and many witnesses pooled to argue his case, the election tribunal held that Mr. Omoworare did not convince it and dismissed his application for lacking merit and upheld the decision of INEC to declare Mr. Omisore winner of the election. Dissatisfied with the verdict of the tribunal, the AC candidate took his case to the Court of Appeal, leading to yesterday’s judgment.

In reaching their verdict, the appeal court judges seemed particularly miffed by the tribunal’s misapplication of the judgment in the Buhari/Obasanjo case, a precedent that was the basis for kicking out Mr. Omoworare’ s appeal. Referring to the content of the judgment read by the chairman of the tribunal in dismissing Mr. Omoworare’ s petition, Justice Ogunbiyi said since the panel had established that there were widespread irregularities and non-compliance with the electoral laws which INEC itself did not object to, the tribunal erred by upholding the election of Mr. Omisore.

The Court of Appeal therefore set aside the election of Mr. Omisore but declined to declare Mr. Omoworare winner, arguing that such a pronouncement would amount to allowing him to benefit from illegality. Justice Ogunbiyi ordered INEC to hold a re-run election to fill the vacant seat within 60 days of the judgment. Modupe Fasanmi and Sidi Bage, the two other members of the court, took turns to support the lead judgment.

Mr. Omisore was the flag bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party in the April 2007 election for Osun East senatorial district and was so returned by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after the election.

Reaction

Speaking with reporters after the ruling, Mr. Omoworare said he was happy that justice came his way at last. He said though the journey was tortuous, his points were eventually proved. The AC candidate, however, expressed fears over the possibility of holding a different election from the one nullified by the Appeal Court. “Are we going to have a free and fair election if this election is done again? I can’t answer the question.

Nigerians and the people of Ife/Ijesha should answer the question,” he said. “I have always said that people should resist people stealing their votes.

Stealing of ballot boxes is worse than armed robbery because the effect is monumental. It affects children yet unborn.”

Mr Omisore was first elected to the Senate in 2003 after he suffered impeachment as deputy Governor of Osun State. He contested in 2003, even before he declared for the People’s Democratic Party and won. Interestingly, Mr. Omisore is still the only Nigerian to run for such important position from detention and won landslide. Before the election of 2003, Mr. Omisore, shortly after his impeachment was arrested and charged for the murder of Chief Bola Ige, a former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General in former President Olusegun Obasanjo ‘s government. It was from detention, waiting to be arraigned for the murder case, that some leaders of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), led by Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, then Vice President sponsored Omisore for the Senate race. According to PDP’s former Chairman, Audu Ogbe, Omisore’s nomination form was signed and submitted by Alhaji Atiku without the signature of the National Chairman o f the Party. Alhaji Atiku led Omisore’s campaign in 2003 and from prison Omisore won the senate race under PDP.

Few weeks after his victory, Omisore regained his freedom and was sworn in as a Senator where he served for four years until his re-election in 2007.

 

Editor:

Was Omisore involved in Bola Ige’s death? If yes, who were his accomplices?

Watch out for the exclusive on African Interest Online.

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