Supreme Court sacks Benue APC lawmaker

The Supreme Court yesterday ordered a member of Benue State House of Assembly, representing Buruku constituency on the platform of the All Progressives congress (APC), Orhena Adugu Gbilive, to immediately vacant his seat. The apex court also ordered the Speaker of the House to swear-in Mrs. Ngunan Addigi also of the APC as the rightfully nominated and elected candidate of the party. The court, in a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Kumai Bayang Akaahs, also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue her a certificate of return as the duly elected member of the Benue State House of Assembly representing Buruku Constituency on the platform of the All Progressives Congress. The decision of the apex court is an affirmation of the judgment of the Makurdi division of the Court of Appeal delivered on March 16, 2012 that Mrs. Addigi was the duly elected candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) now APC. The state election tribunal had affirmed that Mrs. Addigi was the candidate that emerged victorious at the primaries conducted by the National Working Committee of the ACN (now APC) to contest the election for the Buruku constituency of the state House of Assembly. The chairman of the party in Benue State, however, omitted her name from the list of the candidates of the party forwarded to the INEC in flagrant violation of the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended. The decision of the trial court was affirmed by the Court of Appeal, following which the appellants, who were aggrieved by the decision, approached the Supreme Court to set aside the judgment. The Supreme Court, in its judgment, held that the evidence on record also shows that Mrs. Addigi was one of the aspirants who took part in the primary election for the Buruku Constituency