…dismisses fresh appeal challenging their election

By Ise-Oluwa Ige

ABUJA—The Supreme Court yesterday dismissed, in limine, a fresh appeal  brought by the Hope Democratic Party, HDP, challenging the electoral  victory of late President Umaru Yar’Adua and his running mate, Dr  Goodluck Jonathan, in the presidential election held on April 21, 2007.

That was after the apex court refused an invitation by the political  party to reverse its earlier verdict which threw out its petition  seeking nullification of late Yar’Adua’s election.

The dismissal of the case was the second in less than one month.

Specifically, the apex court, had, less than one month ago, dismissed  the said appeal but the decision did not go down well with Owuru, the  party’s flag bearer hence his second coming before the apex court.

Umaru Abdullahi, former President of the Court of Appeal, it would be recalled,  had set up a fresh panel to hear the case filed by the  respondent.

But  midway into the matter, the Supreme Court upon hearing an  application brought by the winners of the election  terminated the  appeal.

Not done with the dismissal, the applicant/appellant who is also the Presidential candidate of the party, filed a motion dated September 29,  2010, praying the apex court to set aside its decision and hear the  appeal on its merit.

However, the five-man panel of the court presided over by Justice Dahiru Musdapha, after listening to all the parties through their respective  counsel, dismissed the application on the ground that it lacked the  requisite information upon which a court could rely to make an order in  favour of the applicant.

Following this development, the court ruled that Owuru’s application was  frivolous and lacking in merit, just as it told him that he never  furnished it with any fact to show that he was not served with a hearing  notice before the decision to dismiss the appeal was taken.

In addition, the court told him that “courts, especially the Supreme  Court, cannot make such an order dismissing an appeal without hearing  the other party, even when it was not merely struck out but was  outrightly dismissed. This is the end of the matter,” the Supreme Court  added.