By Olusegun Olanrewaju (Lagos), Deborah Onyofufeke, David Lawani (Abuja)
Protesters, comprising hundreds of youths, yesterday evening hit the streets of Kano, demanding the reversal of an appeal court judgment that sacked Abba Yusuf as the governor of the state.
The protesters, comprising workmen, set bonfires along the Dan Agundi area of Kano while chanting in solidarity with Governor Yusuf.
It was learnt that security operatives wasted no time in dispersing the protesters and ensured that the peace prevailing in the state was not jeopardised.
Meanwhile, state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Haruna Kiyawa, said, “He (the governor) was not in town. He promised to get in touch as soon he got the authentic information on it”.
At press time, the situation in the town was calm as residents were seen going about their normal activities.
However, some of the placards displayed by the protesters had inscriptions such as ‘Abba is the governor-elect’, ‘Enough is enough’, and ‘We will stay here until we get justice’.
The recent ruling by an Appeal Court panel upheld the earlier tribunal verdict led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan Osadebay, which had removed Yusuf from office on September 20, 2023.
The reaction is coming after the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgment appeared in the public domain.
Earlier, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), had held a press conference at the Sheraton Hotel in Abuja where it called on the National Judicial Council (NJC), to “without delay commence an investigation to unravel what happened” for which the CTC judgement in the public domain was said to contradict the pronouncement at the appellate court.
The NNPP called on the NJC to address the contradictions trailing the CTC of the Appeal Court judgement delivered by a three-man panel led by Justice Moore Adumien on November 17, 2023, in appeal no CA/KN/EP/GOV/KAN/34/2023.
The court had upheld the decision of the Kano State Election Petition Tribunal which nullified Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf’s election while adding that he (the governor) was not a member of the NNPP as of the time of the election.
Briefing the press in Abuja yesterday, the national secretary of NNPP, Dipo Olayioku, who stood in for the acting National Chairman, Abba Kawu Ali, said that the CTC obtained from the party’s lawyers clearly showed that the judgement delivered by the Honourable Justices was in favour of Governor Kabir Yusuf.
According to Olayioku, page 67 of the extant judgment in its (Appeal Court) conclusive findings not only set aside the Kano Tribunal’s ruling of September 20, 2023 but also awarded the sum of N1 million to the governor who was the appellant.
He said the governor is a bonafide member of the NNPP and his membership was never in doubt as he passed through all the normal processes as demanded by INEC.
“On page 67 of the extant judgment in its conclusive findings held inter alia: in the circumstances, I resolve all the issues in favour of the appellant. The judgment of the Tribunal in the petition no: EPT/KN/GOV/01/2023 between the All Progressive Congress (APC) Vs INEC and 2 Others delivered on the 20th day of September 2023 is hereby set aside. The sum of N1m (one million naira only) is hereby awarded as costs in favour of the appellant (Abba Kabir Yusuf) and against the 1st respondent (APC).
“We are an interested party. We own the platform on which Engineer Abba Kabir Yusuf ran for the election and was declared the winner. We are calling on the National Judicial Council (NJC), to commence an investigation to unravel what happened in the matter. Also, we are calling on eminent members of the bench (both retired and serving) and the bar, to be interested in what happened. We have the kind of scenario presented in the CTC of the judgment of the Appeal Court.
“In addition, we call on leaders, elders, and other major stakeholders in the Nigerian project, including the media, to step into this matter to avert the danger this type of signal from the judiciary portends for our democracy in particular and our country in general. It is clear to us that the only conclusion that can be drawn from this judicial debacle is that the average reasonable person can only conclude that the Court of Appeal changed the judgment after they had concluded deliberations on the matter and then mistakenly left the original conclusion during the cutting and pasting process,” Olayioku said.
The NNPP had organised a prayer for its members to assemble at Dan-Angundi popular open space to offer prayers to Allah to seek intervention and pave the way for Yusuf to reclaim his mandate.
A source, however, hinted that shortly after the prayer, some youths who felt aggrieved by the controversial judgment, resolved to protest.
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*Appeal Court: Judgement remains valid
In another development, the Chief Registrar of the Court of Appeal, Umar Mohammed Bangari, yesterday clarified that the appeal court judgment on the Kano State governorship election dispute appeal remains valid.
Controversy had arisen around the judgment after it was alleged that the appellate court called on lawyers involved in the governorship election trial to return a copy of its judgment with them for correction.
Reacting to the controversy, Bangari said that what happened in the judgment body was a ‘clerical error’ that did not in any way invalidate or change the findings and conclusion of the court.
The chief registrar assured that the clerical error would be rectified once parties in the matter filed a formal application to that effect.
Reading from Order 23 Rule 4 of the Court of Appeal Handbook which empowers the court to correct any clerical error once detected by the court, or any of the parties in the matter, Bangari stressed that nothing about the judgment had changed.
He said, contrary to insinuations, the judgment of the court remained valid.
“What happened in the part of the judgment is just a mere clerical error that ought not to draw any issue. The court is empowered to correct such clerical errors and would be done as appropriate.
There had been misgivings and a series of interpretations into the judgment which upheld the judgment of the Kano State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal that invalidated the election of Kabir Yusuf of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) as the winner of the March 18 gubernatorial poll.
*Governor Yusuf files suit at S’ Court
In another development, Governor Yusuf yesterday formally filed an appeal at the Supreme Court, challenging his removal as governor by the Appeal Court last week.
According to the notice of appeal, Yusuf’s party, the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) filed the appeal, which also joined the governor as a respondent, in addition to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
In the appeal filed, the document contained 10 grounds of appeal against the judgment of the appellate court, seeking three reliefs from the apex court as follows: An order allowing the appeal and setting aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal delivered on 17th November 2023.”
It prays for an order upholding the portion of the judgment of the court of appeal setting aside the judgment of the trial tribunal in petition No: EPT/RV/GOV/11/2023, and making an order as to costs in favour of the appellant.
“Such further orders as this honourable court may deem appropriate in the circumstances of the appeal”.
However, it will be recalled that last week, the Court of Appeal nullified the election of Governor Yusuf by declaring that the non-inclusion of his name in the register of his party held by INEC had violated Section 177 (c) of the 1999 Constitution, which required a candidate vying for a governorship position to be a member of a political party.
The ruling was contrary to the opinion of the lower election petition tribunal, which ruled that the court lacked the jurisdiction to determine the membership of a party.
The appeal court had then sacked the governor and declared his opponent, Nasiru Gawuna, of the APC as the elected governor of Kano.
Dissatisfied with the verdict, however, Yusuf described the judgement as a travesty of justice and vowed to appeal against it at the Supreme Court.
*We’ve not seen the document, open court judgment more important, says APC
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday said the party is yet to officially receive the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the Court of Appeal judgment which before now declared its candidate, Nasiru Gawuna, as the winner of the governorship election.
A new twist emerged in the early hours of yesterday that the court of appeal judgment which affirmed the lower court ruling in favour of the APC candidate was done in error, as contained in the CTC.
Briefing journalists at the media office of the national secretariat of the largest party in Africa, its legal adviser, Abubakar Kaka, noted that until the party received the CTC, it would take the necessary steps.
He said, “But as far as my office is concerned, we have not received any official copy of the Certified True Copy of the judgement. But we will write and get a copy.
“If the copy that will be conveyed to us still contains this error, we will take steps eventually.
Continuing, Kaka stated, “What we will do and we have done right now, is to write a request demanding for the CTC. Until the CTC containing that error, which is being bantered around, we will now know what to do next.
“But, I will suggest that whoever may have received the CTC containing that error, if he was an appropriate person and entitled to a copy, would have taken necessary steps to ask to see it. But I will say that the court should have taken the necessary steps to make corrections”, he noted.
Also, the APC has offered a different narrative to the controversy trailing the CTC of the judgment on the Kano governorship election delivered by the court of appeal in Abuja.
The three-member panel of the appeal court, in the lead judgment read by Justice Moore Aseimo Abraham Adumein, dismissed the appeal filed by Governor Yusuf based on his membership status.
The appellate court affirmed the judgment of the tribunal, which affirmed the APC candidate, Dr. Nasiru Gawuna, as the duly elected governor in the election held last February. Speculation is, however, rife that the CTC of the judgment, released on Tuesday and signed by Registrar Jameel Ibrahim, affirmed Abba Kabiru Yusuf of the NNPP as the duly elected governor.
Addressing journalists yesterday at the APC national secretariat, its National Legal Adviser, Prof. Abdulkareem Abubakar Kana, maintained that the three Justices of the Court of Appeal affirmed the earlier judgment of the Tribunal.
While he claimed typographical errors as responsible for the affirmation of the Kano Governor in the CTC, the APC National Legal Adviser further dismissed the CTC, submitting that what was important was the judgment read in the open court.
He said, “We woke up this morning, and we are confronted with media reports from different news outlets, mostly print media and a few social media posts, where the controversy was identified in the released certified true copy of the judgment of the Court of Appeal that was delivered on the 17th of November 223 here in Abuja.
“However, those of us who are lawyers know that typographic errors often occur in the certified true copy of court judgment ordinarily wouldn’t have been confusion if it was probably not a political matter because it will not be the first time such typographic mistakes will be seen in the judgment, and being lawyers we have been used to a situation like this all that is done is to correct that mistake merely. The most important thing is a judgment that was read in open court.
“The merits and other facts of the judgment of the tribunal, which was delivered on September 28, the appeal was upheld. And then, if you read through the entirety of the judgment from lead justice, my Lord analysed the submissions of different cited cases and the case and arrived at appropriate findings. It gives you an idea of what the conclusion should be.
“But that’s not all. If you read the concurring judgments by two justices because three judges sat over the appeal. The two justices had explained and clarified their positions. If you read the findings of my Lord honourable justice, the judgment of my lord Justice Bitrus Sanga, who stated that he has read the judgment of my Lord Justice Aseimo, I agree with him completely.”
He added, “Therefore, dismissing the appeal for lacking merit explains what he has read because he said he read the draft copy of the documents and he agrees with my lord, dismissing the appeal for lack of merit, my lord honourable justice.
“My lord Justice Lateef Ganiyu also read and delivered his judgements dismissing the appeal. In other words, there were two concurring judgments out of three, which are even clearer, very clear, making it obvious that the last three lines and the concluding part of the judgment of my Lord the presiding judge, whereby an assertion was made on the CTC not as read in open court finding merit in the appeal and awarding one million costs on the respondents, the first respondents instead of the appellant was clearly and an error.
“In a situation like this for us, lawyers, we do a community reading of the entire judgment to see what exactly the finding of the court is. For anyone who reads the judgment from page one to page 72 of the judgements.
“You will agree that, most certainly, that assertion will not hold water; instead of upholding the judgment of the lower court, it sets it aside. So, I don’t think the explanation needs to come from us.
“But for us, we can only render our perspective as a party to the entire uproar that is going on. But as to the explanation as to where the error happened in the course of typing the judgment, it is for the court to explain, and I’m sure the court will have done that by now by taking necessary measures to issue a fresh CTC concerning an appropriate judgement of the court.
“So for me, I don’t think there is any confusion as it were, except for those who would prefer to continue to see it as a confusion.” However, the APC National Legal Adviser admitted that he had not seen the CTC of the Court of Appeal judgement.
“As far as my office is concerned, we have not received an official copy of the certified true copy of the judgment. But we will write and get a copy. If the copy that will be conveyed to us still contains this error, we will take steps eventually.
“What we will do, and we have done right now, is to write to demand the CTC. Until the CTC contains that error, which is being bantered around, we will know what to do next.”
