Supreme Court rejects Adeyemi’s complaint against Ododo, fines him N2 million

Sen. Smart Adeyemi’s appeal against the judgements of the two lower courts concerning the All Progressives Congress, APC’s primary election in Kogi State on April 15 was denied by the Supreme Court on Monday.

The Supreme Court determined in a unanimous majority that the appeal lacked merit since it did not contest or show that the concurrent judgements of the High and Appeal courts were incorrect.

The two issues stated in the appellant’s brief were deemed to be irrational, pointless, untriable, and in violation of Sections 132 and 133(1) of the Evidence Act 2011 by the top court.

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In order to invalidate the APC primary election, Smart Adeyemi, who represented Kogi West senatorial district in the 9th Assembly, filed a lawsuit at the Federal High Court.

Usman Ododo was selected by the party as its nominee for governor on November 11 following the primary.

Both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal dismissed Adeyemi’s lawsuit for lack of merit.

The appellant had relied on the 2nd Notice of Appeal filed when the apex court rendered its decision on Monday. The court first threw out the appellant’s first notice of appeal, holding that the apex court’s authority to hear appeals against concurrent findings of the two lower courts could only be used when the findings were claimed to be perverse.

The practise of parties appearing on TV to discuss pending appeals was also criticised by the court as being disrespectful. The court stated: “You go saying on television that if the court is a court of justice, the appeal should go in your favour.

The court disapproves of this behaviour. Once you’ve hired a lawyer, take some time to relax.

“I’m giving you this long speech to stop you from saying things that are unreasonable. The Supreme Court’s decision was delivered by Justice E. A. Agim, who noted that the court was comprised of sensible people.

“There is nothing on the appellant’s Notice of Appeal showing a challenge as to the perverseness of the findings of the two lower courts,” the court declared.

“The appellant never claimed that the conclusions of the two lower courts were unsupported by any evidence. If there is no claim that the conclusions were perverse, this Court cannot examine the factual problems made in the Notice of Appeal.

“In general, this appeal is unsuccessful. The first and third respondents (the candidate for governor and the APC) must each be compensated with N1 million, the Supreme Court declared.

Dapo Otitoju represented the appellant; M. Y. Abdullahi, SAN, the third respondent; Abdulwahab Muhammed, SAN, the APC; and Umar Abdulhamid, the second respondent.

The appeal presented by Adekunle Oladapo Otitoju on behalf of Senator Adeyemi was found to be utterly devoid of merit by the Court of Appeal on August 18, 2023.

Adeyemi was found to have failed appallingly to prove all the criminal claims made against the APC and its leaders’ handling of the primary election, according to a three-judge panel of Justices’ unanimous judgement.

All three of the matters in contention against Smart Adeyemi were resolved by Justice Mohammed Lawal Shuaib, who gave the lead judgement.

The charges of manipulation and falsification of the results of the primary election made by Adeyemi, according to Justice Shuaib, should have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt, as required by law.

In addition, he rejected the appellant’s claim that the APC Appeal Committee unfairly dismissed his petition challenging the alleged irregularities in the primary election process.

According to Justice Shuaib, the denial of a fair hearing issue could not be raised as a new issue at the Court of Appeal because it was not addressed in his original summons to the Federal High Court.

Adeyemi’s statements remained merely assertions, the Court of Appeal found, and could not have any probative value in the absence of strong, verifiable proof on his behalf.

The Federal High Court in Abuja’s ruling on July 12 that Adeyemi had failed to establish his claims that Ododo had not been legitimately nominated by the APC was affirmed by the Court of Appeal.

Therefore, Senator Adeyemi had asked the Supreme Court to issue an order overturning the lower courts’ rulings, allowing his appeal, and granting all the reliefs he had requested in his original summons.