The Supreme Court has ordered Mr. Orker Jev of the Action Congress of Nigeria, (now All Progressives Congress) representing Buruku Federal Constituency of Benue State in the National Assembly to vacate his seat with immediate effect.
The apex court ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to conduct fresh election within 90 days to feel the vacancy caused by Jev’s removal.
Parties in the appeal were Orker Jev, the appellant while other respondents were Serkar Iortyom, the Independent National Electoral Commission, ACN (now APC).
Jev had gone to the Supreme Court to challenge the decision of the Court of Appeal, Makurdi which affirmed the ruling of the lower court which asked INEC to withdraw the certificate of return issued to him.
Justice Walter Onoghen, who presided at the hearing directed that the name of Jev be removed from the ballot box and replaced with that of the 1st respondent (Iortyom).
The panel also ordered that the appellant (Jev) “shall pay the sum of N500, 000 (Five hundred thousand Naira) to each of the respondents except the 2nd respondent (INEC).
“This appeal is devoid of merit; it is hereby accordingly dismissed. There must be a fresh election to elect a new member for the Buruku Federal Constituency in the National Assembly”, Justice Onoghen said.
The panel explained that the 1st respondent, Serkar Iortyom, could not be declared winner and asked to be sworn in following Jev’s ouster because such an order would violate the provisions of Section 141 of the Electoral Act.
The panel wondered how on earth would a ward that has a total of 601 registered and accredited voters would have a result in excess of 2000 vote casts.
“Even if all the voters voted for the appellant, he would not have scored 2000 votes in excess to emerge winner,” the panel noted with dismay.
It will be recalled that the Court of Appeal sitting in Makurdi had in March 2012 upheld the ruling of a Federal High Court Makurdi which ordered INEC to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Jev, and hand same to Mr. Sekav Iyortyom also of the ACN.
Sekav Iyortom had instituted a suit against the ACN, INEC and Jev at the Federal High Court alleging that his name was wrongfully substituted by his party with the name of Jev shortly before the 2011 general elections.
After hearing the suit, the trial court in Makurdi entered judgment in favour of Sekav on the grounds that the ACN (now APC) erred in law by substituting the name of Sekav with that of Jev. [TD]
