The 2023 presidential election tribunal has received five petitions against the presidential election which is to start hearing from 8th April 2023. The five petitions before the tribunal are that of Peter Obi and the Labour Party (LP), Atiku Abubakar and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Action Alliance (AA) and its presidential candidate Mr Solomon Okangbuan, Allied People’s Movement (APM) and its presidential candidate, Princess Chichi Ojei and Actions Peoples Party. In most cases, they are challenging the 2023 election result and the victory of Bola Ahmed Tinubu of All progressive Congress (APC).
According to Reportera.ng, the panel of judges from the Court of Appeal who had presided over motions involving the 2023 presidential election and may be in the 2023 Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, PEPT panel are as stated below. Here are meet the 5 appeal court judges in Obi vs Tinubu Case.
Justice Monica Bolna’an Dongban-Mensem is a Nigerian jurist and the current President of the Court of Appeal in Nigeria. She was born on December 13, 1957, in Plateau State, Nigeria. She obtained her LL.B degree from Ahmadu Bello University in 1980 and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1981.
She began her career in law as a private practitioner before joining the public service as a magistrate in Plateau State. She later became a judge in the High Court of Plateau State, and subsequently, the Court of Appeal.
Justice Dongban-Mensem has served as a member of several judicial committees and has chaired the Election Petition Tribunal in several states in Nigeria. She was appointed the Acting President of the Court of Appeal in March 2020 and confirmed as the substantive President in June 2020.
She is known for her commitment to upholding the rule of law and delivering sound judgments. Her appointment as the President of the Court of Appeal was widely acclaimed and seen as a positive step towards strengthening the Nigerian judiciary.
Mohammed (62) from Kano State was part of the three-man panel that granted Obi and Atiku’s motions to serve Tinubu their petitions by substituted means.
He finished the Nigerian Law School in 1985 and was appointed as a judge of the High Court of the FCT in 2010. After serving for about 10 years, he was promoted to the Court of Appeal on the 28th of June 2021.
Justice Mohammed presided over the Nasarawa State Governorship Election Tribunal in 2019.
The PDP governorship candidate in the 2019 general election, Hon. David Emmanuel Ombugadu had sued INEC and Governor Abdulahi Sule of the All Progressive Congress (APC).
But Justice Mohammed dismissed the petition for lacking in merit , holding that the petitioner’s allegation of over-voting and electoral violence could not be substantiated.
Stephen Jonah Adah (1939–2018) was a Nigerian jurist who served as a justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria from 1998 to 2009. He was born on May 31, 1939, in Otukpo, Benue State, Nigeria, and attended the University of Lagos, where he obtained a degree in Law in 1965. Adah was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1966 after completing his legal studies at the Nigerian Law School.
After his call to the Bar, Adah worked in private legal practice for several years before joining the judiciary in 1977 as a magistrate in Benue State. He later became a judge of the High Court of Benue State in 1980 and served in that capacity until 1990, when he was appointed a justice of the Court of Appeal.
In 1998, Adah was appointed a justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the highest court in the country, where he served until his retirement in 2009. During his tenure on the bench, Adah was known for his firm but fair judgments, and his commitment to upholding the rule of law and the rights of ordinary citizens.
Justice Adah was a recipient of several awards and honors in recognition of his contributions to the legal profession and the Nigerian judiciary. He was also a member of various professional organizations, including the Nigerian Bar Association and the International Bar Association.
Adah passed away on January 16, 2018, at the age of 78, and was mourned by many in Nigeria’s legal community and beyond.
Tsammani (64) from Bauchi state was appointed to the Court of Appeal on 16th July 2010. He served as the Chairman of the three-man panel that granted Obi and Atiku’s motions to serve Tinubu their petitions by substituted means. He graduated from the Nigerian Law School, Lagos in 1983 and started out as High Court judge, in Bauchi state on 17th September 1998.
Tsammani has presided over various election and financial matters as a judge.
One of those cases is a petition filed by the former Governor of Oyo State, Abiola Ajimobi, challenging the judgment of the 2019 Election Petition Tribunal which had on November 19 same year upheld PDP’s Kola Balogun as the winner of the senatorial election for Oyo South held on February that year.
Balogun was said to have polled a total of 105,720 votes to defeat Ajimobi who garnered 92,218 votes but the latter disagreed and approached the Court of Appeal in Ibadan for redress.
Ajimobi based his petition on the allegation that his PDP counterpact was not qualified to represent his party at the election.
But Justice Haruna Tsammani who prepared the lead judgment dismissed Ajimobi’s petition for lacking in merit, holding that a person who was not part of a political party has no right to challenge the outcome of its primary election.
Justice Joseph Ikyegh is a retired Nigerian judge who served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. He was born on July 22, 1945, in Ushongo Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria. Justice Ikyegh obtained a Bachelor of Law (LL.B) degree from the University of Lagos in 1972 and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1973.
He served as a judge in various capacities in Nigeria, including as a High Court Judge, President of the Customary Court of Appeal, and Justice of the Court of Appeal before being appointed to the Supreme Court in 2010.
During his tenure on the Supreme Court, Justice Ikyegh served as Chairman of the Rules and Practice Committee and also chaired several other committees of the court. He retired on July 22, 2015, upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70 for judges in Nigeria.
Justice Ikyegh is widely regarded as a distinguished jurist and has made significant contributions to the development of Nigerian jurisprudence.
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