Izuchukwu OkosiThe decision of the Court of Appeal sitting in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja to sack Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf has been vehemently opposed by the Special Adviser to the Governor on National and International Public Affairs, Mohammed Jamu Yusuf.
The appellate Court had in an unanimous decision by a three-member panel of justices ruled that Yusuf was not a valid candidate in the 2023 gubernatorial elections as his votes garnered was not signed and stamped by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
A total of 165,663 voters garnered by Governor Yusuf is said to be invalid.
The Kano state governor has vowed to pursue the denied mandate at the Supreme Court and his views about the verdict of the court was reflected by his special adviser.
“What happened at the Court of Appeal was a miscarriage of Justice and I can be bold enough to tell you that it was no constitutional breach (by the governor),” began the Governor’s aide.
“Why I have to tell you that there’s no constitutional breach is because the judge in his wisdom, and the three-man panel took a decision that in the register of the NNPP that was submitted to INEC, of Three Volumes, they have not seen the name of His Excellency, Abba Kabir Yusuf there,” Jamu Yusuf stated in an interview on Arise Television.
Continuing Jamu Yusuf said: “But when we are talking about the register of a political party, and when we talking about the decision of the Court, I have heard lawyers several times say the latest judgements are always the precedents and what should be followed.
“Very recently, in less than three months, a five-man panel of the Court of Appeal, that is a full panel of the Court made a pronouncement on a similar matter.
“What Justice Ndume read in his own pronouncement is that he cited Section 177, sub Section 6 if the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and it went further to align with Section 77 (2) of the electoral act but this 5-man panel took the same route and made pronouncements of Section 133. Section 177 is in relation to governorship election, while 133 is in relation to Presidential election,” the governor’s aide clarified.
Elections in the country has been marred by violence, accusations of vote buying, intimidation and malfunctioning technology.
Recently, the off election season took place in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa stated with similar soundbites from opposition camps.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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