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*By Noah Ocheni, Lokoja*
The Supreme Court, on Monday, dismissed Senator Smart Adeyemi’s appeal against the judgments of the two lower courts regarding the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election held in Kogi State on April 15, 2023.
In a unanimous judgment, the Supreme Court held that the appeal lacked merit since it failed to challenge the concurrent findings of both the High and Appeal Courts or demonstrate that these findings were perverse.
The Apex Court also deemed the two issues raised in the Appellant’s brief as unreasonable, vexatious, not triable, and against the provisions of Section 132 and 133(1) of the Evidence Act 2011.
Adeyemi, who represented Kogi West Senatorial District in the 9th Assembly, had filed a suit at the Federal High Court to nullify the primary election of the APC that produced Usman Ododo as the party’s gubernatorial flagbearer for the state’s election scheduled for November 11.
Both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal dismissed the case for lacking merit.
The Supreme Court, in its judgment on Monday, initially struck out the Appellant’s first notice of appeal, as the Appellant had relied on the 2nd Notice of Appeal and held that the power of the Apex Court regarding appeals against concurrent findings of the two lower courts could only be exercised when the findings were alleged to be perverse.
The Court also criticized the practice of parties discussing pending appeals on television, saying, “You go saying on television that if the court is a court of justice, the appeal should go in your favor.”
“The court frowns at this practice. Once you’ve engaged a lawyer, go and rest. I am giving this elaborate talk so that you don’t go out and say things that are not reasonable. The Court is manned by reasonable persons,” Justice E. A Agim stated.
The Apex Court said, “There is nothing on the Notice of Appeal of the Appellant showing a challenge as to the perverseness of the findings of the two lower courts.
“The Appellant never alleged that there was no evidence to support the findings of the two lower Courts. This Court has no power to revisit those issues of facts raised in the Notice of Appeal unless there is an allegation that the findings were perverse.”
“On the whole, this appeal fails. The Appellant shall pay the cost of N1 million each to the 1st and 3rd Respondents (the governorship candidate and the APC),” the Supreme Court ruled.
