Following the decision of the Appeal Court that sacked Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State, there was confusion on Tuesday when the Court’s Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgement emerged and stated otherwise.
While the widely reported verdict of the court last Friday indicated that the appellate court upheld the decision of the petition tribunal sacking Yusuf, the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Haruna Isa-Dederi, argued that CTC of the verdict showed that Yusuf’s victory at the poll was affirmed by the Appeal Court.
Isa-Dederi who disclosed this while addressing a press conference last night, said, as indicated in the written judgment, the Court of Appeal set aside the judgment of the Kano Election Petition Tribunal for lacking in merit.
He said that, in “the evidence contained on page 67 of the copy of the Appeal Court judgment released on Tuesday and signed by Registrar, Jameel Ibrahim Umar, appellate court upheld the victory of Abba Kabiru Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party as duly elected Governor of Kano.”
Recall that the three member panel of the Appeal Court , on Friday, November 17, dismissed the appeal filed by the Governor on the basis of his Party membership status.
The appellate court subsequently affirmed Nasiru Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the governorship poll in the state.
Dederi noted that the CTC of the judgment clearly indicated that the tribunal’s ruling that sacked the Governor was set aside.
The Justice Commissioner insisted that contrary to what the justices read to the public in the courtroom on November 17, the written evidence has vindicated Yusuf as legitimate Governor of the State.
However, according to the CTC obtained by Punch, Justice Moore Adumein, in his lead judgment, wrote, “I will conclude by stating that the live issues in this appeal are hereby resolved in favour of the first respondent and against the appellant.”
Having been earlier sacked by the state governorship election petition tribunal, the Governor who approached the Court of Appeal seeking to upturn the tribunal’s judgment is the appellant before the appellate court.
The All Progressives Congress, the Independent National Electoral Commission and the NNPP are the first, second and third respondents respectively.
According to the CTC, Justice Adumein continued, “In the circumstances, I resolve all the issues in favour of the appellant and against the first respondent.
“Therefore, I find no merit in this appeal which is liable to be and is hereby dismissed.
“The judgment of the tribunal in Petition No.: EPT/KN/GOV/01/2023 between: AL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS (APC) v. INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION & 2 ORS. delivered on the 20th day of September, 2023 is hereby set aside.
“The sum of N1,000,000.00 (one million naira only) is hereby awarded as costs in favour of the appellant and against the 1st respondent.”
In resolving all issues in favour of the appellant (Yusuf), it means the Court of Appeal granted the governor’s appeal to quash his sacking by the tribunal.
But in concluding that he found no merit in the appeal while dismissing it also means that he upheld the decision of the tribunal sacking the governor.
The mix up in the judgment became more obvious with the judge’s final declaration that the judgment of the tribunal delivered on September 25 sacking the governor is set aside while awarding N1m in favour of the governor and against the first respondent (APC).
The two other justices of the appeal court , Justice Bitrus Sanga and Justice Lateef Ganiyu, agreed with the lead judgment.
While many NNPP stalwarts in the state said they considered the development as favourable to their course, a lawyer who asked not to be named said the confusion might just be a typographical error, insisting that the reasoning of the court in the preceding parts of the judgment aligned with the well reported decision that Governor Yusuf has been sacked based on his party membership issue.
Meanwhile, a chieftain of the APC, who confirmed the authenticity of the CTC, told Daily Trust that they would be getting the “corrected version”.
He said the court has admitted to the “clerical errors”, adding “it’s typographical error that has already been corrected. We will be getting the corrected version tomorrow (Wednesday).”
