Confusion is currently trailing the ruling of the Appeal Court on the Kano Governorship election as the State’s Attorney general and Commissioner for Justice, Haruna Isa-Dederi, says the certified copy of Appellate Court has affirmed the victory of Abba Kabir Yusuf as duly elected Governor of Kano state.
Isa-Dederi made the disclosure while addressing a news conference.
He said in the fresh revelation as indicated in the written judgement, the Court of Appeal set aside the judgement of the Kano election petition tribunal for lacking in merit.
“The evidence contained in page 67 of the the copy of the Appeal court judgement 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 NNPP as duly elected Governor of Kano,” he said.
The three member panel of the appeal court, on Friday 17th November 2023 had dismissed the appeal filed by Governor Yusuf on the basis of his membership status.
The appellate court subsequently affirmed Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress APC as winner of March 25th, 2023 Governorship poll in Kano.
Dederi, however, said that page 67 of the certified copy of the judgement clearly indicated that the tribunal’s ruling that sacked Governor Yusuf was set aside.
According to him contrary to what the judges read to the public in the court room on the 17th November, the written evidence has vindicated Yusuf as legitimate governor of Kano.
In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Moore Aseimo Abraham Adumein, the judge held in one of the concluding paragraphs on Page 68 that “I will conclude by stating that the live issues in this appeal are hereby resolved in favour of the 1st respondent and against the appellant.”
The appellant is Governor Yusuf; while the 1st respondent is the All Progressives Congress (APC) with the Independent National Electoral Commission and the NNPP as 2nd and 3rd respondents respectively.
The judge went further to hold that “In the circumstances, I resolve all the issues in favour of the appellant and against the 1st 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: ALL 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.”
While the last three conclusions of the judge suggested that the tribunal judgment sacking Governor Yusuf had been set aside and thus restoring his mandate, the first conclusion that resolved the issues in favour of APC suggested that the decision of the tribunal was affirmed.
In the consenting judgment delivered by Justice Bitrus G. Sanga on Page 69, the judge held that “My brother in the leading judgment considered the pleadings of the parties, the evidence adduced in support thereof together with statutory and judicial authorities cited, quoted and relied upon before reaching the inevitable decision that this appeal is bereft of merit.
“I agree with and adopt as mine the finding and conclusion reached by my learned brother and also dismissed this appeal and affirm the decision by the trial Tribunal in its judgment delivered on 20/9/2023 in Petition No. EPT/KN/GOV/01/2023.”
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 had been sacked based on his party membership issue.
According to Daily Trust, counsel to the APC governorship candidate, Nasiru Gawuna, Sunusi Musa (SAN), said that the contradiction in the verdict of the panel was clearly “a typo” which should not elicit the type of reaction it had elicited.
