By Timothy Ojo
The Supreme Court, on Wednesday, effectively shut the door against David Lyon, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the November 16, 2019 gubernatorial vote in Bayelsa State, and his running mate, Senator Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo.
The Supreme Court, in a judgement read by Justice Amina Augie, dismissed their application and slammed a N10 million fine to be paid to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, its new governor, Douye Diri, as well as his deputy, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo.
The apex court had sacked the duo on February 13, 2020, on the eve of their inauguration as the state’s chief executives, ruling that Lyon’s deputy submitted forged certificates to INEC to run in the election.
The court, on that occasion, also ruled that Degi-Eremienyo’s disqualification had affected the joint ticket with which he and the governorship candidate, Lyon, contested and won the November 16, 2019 election.
Not satisfied with the ruling, Lyon and his party, APC, approached the Supreme Court to review and set aside its own ruling. They were represented by Dr. Afe Babalola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, and Mr. Wole Olanipekun, also a SAN.
Both Afe Babalola and Wole Olanipekun argued vigorously for the setting aside of the verdict at Wednesday’s sitting.
While Babalola argued that the Supreme Court had inherent powers to set aside its own decision because the judgment was null and void on account of denial of fair hearing to his client, Olanipekun said the apex court erred in law when it invoked section 36 of the Electoral Act to disqualify the APC’s participation in the election; whereas the Federal High Court judgment restored by the Supreme Court did not disqualify the party’s eligibility.
But the PDP lawyer, Mr. Tayo Oyetibo, another SAN, told the apex court that the application by APC and Lyon, would dangerously lead the Supreme Court to violate section 285 of the 1999 constitution and to erroneously sit on appeal against its own judgment.
Oyetibo was not done. He declared that the Supreme Court was right in disqualifying Lyon as the governor-elect because section 187 of the 1999 constitution was clear and unambiguous about the fact that a governorship candidate without a deputy candidate was ineligible for any gubernatorial contest in Nigeria.
However, the APC’s and Lyon’s arguments fell terribly flat before the court as Justice Amina Augie, who read the judgment, dismissed the application for lack of merit, declaring that the decisions of the Supreme Court were final and binding for all ages as no court on earth can review them.
“There must be an end to litigation even if we review this judgment, every disaffected litigant will bring similar applications and the finality of Supreme Court judgments will be lost,” Justice Augie declared.
She declared the applications as frivolous and vexatious, and slammed a N10 million fine against the applicants, ordering that the amount be personally paid by their lawyers.
Justice Augie, according to a report monitored on Channels Television, also ordered that the counsels to the APC and Lyon must each pay Governor Douye Diri, his deputy Mr Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo and the PDP the same N10 million.
