The Supreme Court in Abuja yesterday threw out the suit filed by the ANPP governorship candidate in the April 2007 general election in Niger.
David Umaru’s suit challenged the election of Gov. Babangida Aliyu of Niger.
Umaru had gone to court praying the court to determine the validity of the Court of Appeal’s judgment of Feb. 19, 2009, which dismissed his petition and upheld the election of Aliyu.

The main issue in the tussle is the qualification of Aliyu to stand for election as at the time of the said election following his disengagement processes from the civil service of the federation.

The court was also to determine whether or not Aliyu was the winner of the election having regard to the results declared by INEC in the 11 of the 25 local governments which were in dispute.

The Niger State Legislative and Governorship Elections Petition Tribunal headed by Justice Suleiman Kawu had dismissed Umaru’s petition on the grounds that Aliyu’s alleged failure to disengage properly from the civil service of the federation 60 days to the election as required under section 182(1) (g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 was not complained of by Aliyu’s employers.

Following which Umaru went on appeal at Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal.

On Feb.19, 2009, the Justice R. D. Mohammed led Court of Appeal panel, however, refused to look into the merits of Umaru’s appeal, rather it struck out the appeal on the grounds that the petition was one day late in filling, ruling on a cross appeal to that effect by Aliyu.

Leading four Justices, Justice Walter Onnegehe, dismissed the appeal as “statue bar”, holding that the appeal was filed 31 clear days after the announcement of the election result.

He said that it had breached  section 141 of the Electoral Act, 2006 which stipulated that all petitions must be filed within 30 days after declaration of election results.

He denied the prayer by Umaru for the court to nullify the election of the PDP governor on the ground that he was not qualified to contest  the 2007 governorship election on account of his non-resignation as a Permanent Secretary as provided for by the constitution and the Electoral Act.

“The appellant did not keep interest in the case as he did not file the case on time after the person who was declared winner was announced by INEC,” he said.
The Justices unanimously  dismissed Umaru’s prayer for lack of merit.

Speaking to newsmen, after the judgment, Alhaji Aliyu Baba-Barau called on the ANPP to accept the hand of friendship extended to all opposition parties to develop the state.

“Niger State is not about which party is ruling. We should all come together and develop it. This is a victory for all the people of Niger,” he said.