The Supreme Court, on Monday, dismissed the appeal filed by Senator Smart Adeyemi challenging the emergence of Usman Ododo as the Kogi State governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress.
Having lost at the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal, Adeyemi had approached the apex court, but his appeal was dismissed as the Supreme Court said it lacked merit.
The court described the two issues raised in the appeal as “unreasonable, vexatious, not triable, and against the provisions of Sections 132 and 133(1) of the Evidence Act 2011.”
Justice Emmanuel Agim, in the apex court’s lead judgment, also ordered Adeyemi to pay N1m damages to each of the first and third respondents in the matter.
He said, “The appellant never alleged that there was no evidence to support the findings of the two lower courts. This court has no power to revisit those issues of facts raised in the Notice of Appeal unless there is an allegation that the findings were perverse.
“On the whole, this appeal fails. The appellant shall pay the cost of N1m each to the 1st and 3rd respondents (the governorship candidate and the APC). “
The court also described as contemptuous, the practice of parties appearing on TV stations to discuss pending appeals.
He said, “You go saying on television that if the court is a court of justice, the appeal should go in your favour.”
“The court frowns at this practice. Once you’ve engaged a lawyer, go and rest.
“I am giving this elaborate talk so that you don’t go out and say things that are not reasonable.”
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