Supreme Court Suspends Vacation to Hear Ondo Governorship Appeals

The Supreme Court has fixed a new date for the hearing of multiple appeals against the judgment of the Court of Appeal which upheld the declaration of Governor Olusegun Mimiko as the winner of the Ondo State governorship election held last year. The new date, August 27, was announced by Mr. Ahuraka Isah, the Media Aide to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Aloma Mukhtar. The court had earlier fixed the hearing of the appeals for September 24, a date that would have rendered the appeals automatically incompetent because it would have been more than 60 days allowed by the constitution for the hearing of such appeals. The statement from the Supreme Court reads: "The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mariam Aloma Mukhtar, has re- fixed hearing on appeals filed against the judgment of the Court of Appeal that declared Mimiko as the validly elected candidate in the state governorship election to August 27. "The Supreme Court had earlier fixed September 24 to commence hearing in the four appeals filed by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Mimiko and his Labour Party (LP). "But following protests from some quarters that the September 24 will be outside the mandatory 60 days to determine the election petition appeals, the CJN has adjusted the hearing date to August 27. "Ordinarily, the Supreme Court doesn't sit on appeals while on vacation." The justices of the court who are members of the panel constituted to hear the appeals would have to cut short their vacation to enable them hear the appeal. The Court of Appeal had delivered its judgment on July and going by the provisions of the constitution, the apex court must decide the appeals not later than August 29. The Ondo State Governorship Election Tribunal and the Court of Appeal had both upheld Mimiko's election. The opposition parties, namely the PDP and the defunct ACN, however, rejected the results and are now at the Supreme Court seeking to overturn the lower courts' verdicts.