Kano: Appeal Court Reserves Judgment In Gov Yusuf’s Appeal

•Sacks APC’s Rep, Kwankwaso, reinstates NNPP’s Datti

Alex Enumah in Abuja

The Court of Appeal, Abuja, on Monday, reserved its judgment in the appeal by Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuf against the judgment of the Kano Governorship Election Petition Tribunal which ordered his sack as governor.

A three-man panel of the appellate court announced that judgment had been reserved shortly after parties adopted and argued their brief of arguments in the appeal, as well as three other cross appeals regarding the March 18 governorship election in Kano State.

In the main appeal, Yusuf who ran under the platform of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), urged the appellate court to set aside the judgment of the tribunal for misapplication of law.

His lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), while adopting his brief of arguments said the main issue in the matter was the voiding of ballot papers for not been stamped or signed cannot be a correct position of law and cited the provisions of Section 71 of the Electoral Act 2022 to back his arguments.

Besides, Olanipekun submitted that the APC governorship candidate in the election was not joined as a party in the petition.

Chief Akin Olujimi (SAN) representing the APC urged the court to uphold the judgment of the tribunal as non-stamping and signing of ballot papers is against INEC’s regulations.

On the non joining of the APC governorship candidate in the petition at the Tribunal, Olujimi said votes are cast for political parties and members benefit from the outcome.

The court also reserved judgment in the cross appeal by the APC challenging the eligibility of governor Yusuf to contest the election, having not been a registered member of the NNPP as at the time of the election.

In his argument on the cross appeal, Olanipekun said, it is a mere academic exercise as the Supreme Court had ruled that political parties decide who their candidates are.

In another appeal by the NNPP, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN) argued that the tribunal was wrong to delve into recounting of ballot papers in chambers, as was done and arrived in the cancellation of more than 165, 000 votes from the governor’s total votes in 32 Local Government Areas.

In the appeal filed by INEC, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN), representing the Commission agreed with the submission of Olanipekun that, the tribunal erred for carrying out a recount of ballot papers in chambers and not in an open court to arrive at the judgment, as tribunals are restrained from doing so under Section 137 of the Electoral Act.

He said, the primary function of the court is to give effect to the will of voters, not to recount or recalculate as doing so amounts to rewriting election’s jurisprudence and urged the court to set aside the judgment.

But, APC’s counsel prayed the court to uphold the judgment of the tribunal as all the necessary processes were followed to order the recount in accordance with the Evidence Act.

It would be recalled that the Kano Governorship Election Petition Tribunal had last month sacked Governor Yusuf and declared 165,663 of his votes invalid, saying they were not signed or stamped by INEC.

INEC had declared Yusuf the winner of the March 18, 2023 election after he secured 1,019,602 votes against his opponent Nasiru Gawuna who secured 890,705 votes.

But, after the tribunal deducted the 165,663 votes from Yusuf’s tally, his votes were reduced to 853, 939, which were over 30,000 votes less than the 890,705 votes polled by Gawuna of the APC.

Going by that declaration, the tribunal then ruled that the APC candidate was the winner of the governorship election and ordered INEC to withdraw Yusuf’s certificate of return and give Gawuna a new one.

This prompted Governor Yusuf and his party, the NNPP as well as the INEC to appeal the tribunal’s judgment wishing it to be upturned in their favour.

After listening to all parties, the court announced that judgment in the appeals have been reserved to a date that will be communicated to parties in the matter.

Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal in Abuja has sacked Musa Ilyasu Kwankwaso of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and reinstated Yusuf Umar Datti of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) in the Kura/Madobi/Garun Malam Federal Constituency Election.

The three-man panel led by Justice Tunde Oyebamiji Awotoye, held that Datti’s appeal was meritorious and subsequently overturned the judgment of the National and State Assembly Election Petition Tribunal, which nullified his victory at the February 25 House of Representatives election.

The appellate court in its verdict agreed with the submissions of Datti that the tribunal was wrong to have counted the date of the appellant’s resignation on the date of his party’s primary election and that Section 77 of the Electoral Act was misapplied.

Besides, the appellate court in voiding the judgment of the tribunal held that no court has jurisdiction on the issue of membership of a party.

Recall that the tribunal led by Justice Ngozi Flora Azinge had last month voided the victory of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) member of the House of Representatives on the grounds that he failed to resign his appointment with Bayero University, Kano, 30 days before the election as prescribed by law.

The tribunal, therefore, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to set aside his certificate and issue a fresh one to the petitioner, Musa Illiyasu Kwankwaso, having scored the second highest number of votes in the said election.