The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed an application for review of the judgment which sacked the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa state, David Lyon and his deputy, Senator Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo.
When the apex court convened on Wednesday, The APC candidate through lawyers Afe Babalola and Wole, both Senior Advocates, asked the court to review and set aside the judgment which voided their election victory in the November 16 governorship election.
Babalola further argued that the Supreme Court has inherent powers to set aside its own decision because the judgment was a nullity on account of denial of fair hearing of his client.
On his part, Olanipekun argued that the supreme court erred in law when it invoked section 36 of the Electoral Act to disqualify the APC’s participation in the election when the Federal High Court judgment restored by the Supreme Court did not disqualify the party’s eligibility.
In his response, counsel to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the state governor, Tayo Oyetibo, informed the court that the application by APC and its governorship candidate were a dangerous invitation to the Supreme Court to sit on appeal over its own matter, which violates section 285 of the 1999 constitution.
According to him, the court was right in disqualifying Lyon as the governor-elect because section 187 of the 1999 constitution is clear and unambiguous to the effect that a governorship candidate who has no deputy candidate is not qualified to contest any governorship election in Nigeria.
After listening to both parties in the matter, Justice Amina Augie who read the judgment said the application lacked merit and the decisions of the court, final.
According to her, the applicants failed to point out errors, stating that the judgment is final for all ages.
The judgment, she said, is final in the ‘real sense’ and no court on earth can review the judgment.
“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 further stated that the applications are frivolous and vexatious, and awarded the cost of N10 million against the applicants to be personally paid by their counsel.
It will be recalled that Lyon was sacked by the apex court on February 13, on grounds that his deputy, submitted forged certificates to INEC.
The court ruled that Degi-Eremienyo’s disqualification had affected the joint ticket with which he and the governorship candidate, Lyon, ran for and won on November 16, 2019.
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