Court reaffirms sack of Kogi East Senator

The Federal High Court, Abuja on Thursday, refused to review a judgment delivered by Justice Gabriel Kolawole, which sacked the senator representing Kogi East Senatorial District, Attai Aidoko of the PDP from the Senate.

Justice Anwuli Chikere struck out the matter filed by Mr Aidoko seeking judicial review of the judgment delivered by Mr Kolawole.

Mrs Chikere held that the judgment delivered by Mr Kolawole and subsequently affirmed by the Court of Appeal on October 24, 2018, and the Supreme Court still stood.

The Supreme Court had, on January 23, refused to vacate the concurrent judgments of the two courts.

Mrs Chikere held that it was common ground that a court could not sit on appeal or review a judgment delivered by a superior or court of coordinate jurisdiction.

The court noted that the Court of Appeal’s judgment which upheld the judgment of Mr Kolawole was still valid and subsisting.

In view of the foregoing, Mrs Chikere declared that she had no jurisdiction to entertain the suit because doing so would amount to judicial rascality and insubordination.

‘‘Doctrine of stare decisis dictates that courts below are bound to follow decision of the higher court on the same issue and doing the contrary amounts to gross insubordination.

‘‘This court cannot set aside judgment of court of coordinate jurisdiction,’’ she held.

Mr Kolawole, before his elevation to the Court of Appeal, delivered judgment in a suit filed by Mr Alfa challenging the emergence of Mr Aidoko as the PDP senatorial candidate for Kogi East.

The judge had maintained that Mr Alfa, and not Mr Aidoko, was the winner of the PDP’s primaries held in Idah on December 7, 2015.

Mr Kolawole had ordered the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Clerk of the National Assembly, Mohammed Sani-Omolori, to swear–in Alfa as the Senator representing Kogi East in the Senate.

He condemned the action of the PDP in discarding the results of its primary elections won by Alfa and its going ahead to use fictitious documents to back Mr Aidoko’s nomination to INEC.

Consequently, the court held that the nomination of Mr Aidoko by PDP was an exercise in futility.

Mr Kolawole had also ordered INEC to immediately withdraw the Certificate of Return issued to Mr Aidoko in 2015.

Mr Aidoko then approached the court again for a review of Mr Kolawole’s judgment which the court declined.

(NAN)