Appeal Court Orders Lawyers To Return Kano Governorship Ruling For Correction

The Court of Appeal has directed lawyers involved in the Kano governorship election case to return the copies of its ruling for correction, following the confusion that arose from the discrepancy between the oral and written judgements.

This was disclosed by Bashir Ahmad, a former aide to ex-president Muhammadu Buhari, on his official X handle on Wednesday.

Newsflash Nigeria had earlier reported that the Court of Appeal in Abuja had sacked the Kano governor, Abba Yusuf, on the grounds that he was not qualified to contest the election under the platform of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, as he was not a member of the party. The court declared Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna of the All Progressive Congress, APC, as the winner of the March 18 polls.

However, the Certified True Copies of the judgement, released on Tuesday, contradicted the oral pronouncement and indicated that the court upheld Yusuf’s victory. The written judgement, signed by the registrar, Mr Jameel Ibrahim Umar, stated that the court set aside the ruling of the election petition tribunal that sacked Yusuf and ordered the APC to pay him N1million.

The court ruling, read by Justice Moore Aseimo Abraham Adumen, said, “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. 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.: PT/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.” It was signed by MOORE ASEIMO ABRAHAM ADUMEN, JUSTICE, COURT OF APPEAL.

According to Ahmad, the Court of Appeal has acknowledged the errors in the released judgement and has asked the lawyers to return the copies for correction.

He said that the court will stand by its Friday verdict that Gawuna is the legitimate winner of the election. He expressed his confidence in the integrity of the judiciary and urged the people of Kano to remain calm and peaceful.

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