Background
The case of Nongo v. Achado revolves around the nomination process for the Gwer-West/Gwer-East Federal Constituency seat in the upcoming 2023 elections. Engr. David Nongo (the appellant) and Arc. Austine Asema Achado (the 1st respondent) were both candidates asserting victory in the same party's primary election conducted on 29 May 2022.
The 1st respondent claimed he emerged victorious with 36,662 votes, while the appellant received 966 votes. Despite the 1st respondent being announced as the winner, the All Progressives Congress (APC) forwarded the appellant’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as its candidate for the elections on 17 June 2022. This prompted the 1st respondent to file a lawsuit on 29 June 2022 at the Federal High Court, asserting his rightful claim to the candidacy based on his primary election victory.
Issues
The Supreme Court was faced with several issues:
- Whether the suit filed by the 1st respondent was statute-barred.
- Whether the courts below correctly determined that the 1st respondent was the validly elected candidate for the nomination based on the primary election held.
Ratio Decidendi
The Supreme Court ruled that:
- A suit is statute-barred if initiated after the prescribed period as dictated by relevant statutes. In this case, the court found that the 1st respondent's suit was filed within the permissible 14 days from the date the nomination was wrongly submitted to INEC.
- The primary duty of assessing evidence lies with the trial court, whose evaluations will not be overturned by appellate courts unless it is demonstrated that the trial court failed to adequately consider material evidence.
Court Findings
The court found that:
- The trial court and the Court of Appeal had found sufficient evidence to support the conclusion that the 1st respondent was indeed the rightful winner of the primary election held on 29 May 2022, monitored by INEC.
- The decision of the APC to send the name of the appellant instead of the 1st respondent was unlawful and against the stipulations set out in the Electoral Act, 2022.
- The appellant failed to successfully overturn the concurrent findings of the lower courts, which had examined all evidence and found it credible and persuasive.
Conclusion
The Supreme Court ultimately dismissed the appeal brought by the appellant, affirming the judgments of the lower courts which recognized the 1st respondent as the validly nominated candidate. The court awarded costs of N5,000,000 to the 1st respondent, reflecting the successful prosecution of his case and the determination that the appellant’s appeal lacked merit.
Significance
This ruling underscores the principle that the rightful candidate according to party primary election results, as monitored by regulatory bodies like INEC, must be upheld. It stresses the importance of adherence to legal protocols in political party nominations, particularly with respect to the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022, as it relates to the protection of electoral integrity and fair competition in future elections.