A Federal High Court sitting in Jos, Plateau State has ruled that the tenure of Segun Oni, the Ekiti State governor, ends in 2011, in the controversy over whether a fresh four year tenure started when he won the April 2009 re-run elections in the state.

The judgment in the suit filed by Adunmo Rufus and three others against the Attorney General of the Federation, delivered on Friday by Ambrose Alagoa.

Mr. Alagoa said the re-run election was not a fresh election but a supplementary one which held in some parts of the state, where no elections were held. He also said the oath Mr. Oni took in 2007 is the one recognised by the Constitution while the second oath he took in 2009 was only complimentary.

No precedence

However, Wale Ojo-Lanre, the chief press secretary to Mr. Oni, said in a press statement that the judgment that cannot stand the test of judicial precedence.

“Section 180 (subsection 2a) of the 1999 Constitution is clear on when the tenure of office of governors and presidents ends and this has been settled by the Supreme Court,” Mr. Ojo-Lanre said.

He described the judgment as curious, strange and a pyrrhic victory for those who are desirous of getting power through the backdoor, noting that constitutional matters like the one on tenure of elected public officers can only be settled by the Supreme Court and added that his principal will appeal the judgment.

But in support of the judgement, Rotimi Akeredolu, the Nigeria Bar Association president, described the ruling as a vindication of his position and that of the Bar.

“That is the position of the law,” Mr. Akeredolu said. “The Bar said so, I have said so everywhere. He is fooling himself. I told him openly, I told the deputy governor when we met, and for them to think that the term will start running they are fooling themselves.

“The Constitution is very clear; from the day you are sworn in and he was sworn in 2007. So the election in 10 local governments and in local government like Ido-Osi and the likes will not give him a new tenure,” Mr. Akeredolu said.