Victor Ezeja
AdminHundreds of youths, on Wednesday evening, took to the streets of Kano, protesting over the appeal court judgment that sacked Abba Yusuf as the governor of the state.
The protesters set tyres on fire along the Dan Agundi area of Kano while chanting a solidarity song for the governor. Chants of “We want justice!” rented the air even as some of the youths rebuffed efforts by policemen to disperse them with teargas.
This development is coming after a Certified True Copy of the Court of Appeal judgment on the state governorship election surfaced, contradicting the judgement that was initially read out in court on Friday.
On 17th of November, the Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the election petition tribunal, which sacked Governor Abba Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and declared the APC candidate, Dr Nasiru Gawuna, winner.
The three-member panel of the appeal court dismissed the appeal filed by Governor Yusuf based on his membership status in his party.
Confusion, however, ensued on Tuesday when the CTC of the court judgement which surfaced four days after the judgment had been delivered showed contradictions in the conclusions.
In the lead judgement delivered by Justice Moore Adumein, the judge held in one of the concluding paragraphs on Page 68, “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 listed 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.”
Recall that All Progressives Congress (APC) and its governorship candidate, Nasiru Gawuna, had challenged the victory of Governor Yusuf on the grounds that he was not a bonafide member of the NNPP.
But the NNPP acting National Chairman Abba Kawu Ali, at a press briefing yesterday in Abuja, insisted that Governor Yusuf was a member of the party before the primary that brought him in.
Ali, also, claimed that the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgements delivered by Justice Moore Aseimo Abraham Adumein (JCA) and concurred to by Honorable Justice Bitrus Gyarazama JCA, and Honorable Justice Lateef Adebayo Ganiyu (JCA) were doctored in favour of Abba Kabir Yusuf, contrary to what was presented to the public.
Represented by the National Secretary, Dipo Olayoku, he said: “Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press, to our greatest surprise, the CTC showed that the judgement delivered by Honorable Justice Moore Aseimo Abraham Adumein (JCA) and concurred to by Honorable Justice Bitrus Gyarazama JCA, and Honorable Justice Lateef Adebayo Ganiyu (JCA) is actually in favour of our Candidate, the Governor of Kano State, Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf.
“At page 67 of the extant judgement in its conclusive findings held inter alia:”In the circumstances, I resolve all the issues in favour of the Appellant” (Engr. Yusuf Abba Kabir)”the judgement of the Tribunal in petition No: EPT/KN/GOV/01/2023 between the All Progressives Congress (APC) Vs INEC & 2 others 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 (Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf) and against the 1st respondent” (APC).
“Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press, this is the complex situation we as a Political Party and our Candidate have found ourselves.
“If at the point of delivering the judgement, there was a pronouncement that our Appeal failed but the CTC of the same judgement in its conclusive findings actually resolved all the issues in our favour, and even awarded costs in our favour against the APC, this definitely is a riddle! We are an interested party.
“We own the platform on which Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf ran for the election and was declared the winner. We are calling on the National Judicial Council (NJC), to without delay commence 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 that we have the kind of scenario presented in the CTC of the judgement 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.”
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