Appeal Court Speaks On Confusion in Certified Copy Of Judgement On Kano Election

Appeal Court speaks on confusion in certified copy of judgement on Kano election

By Aisha Musa, Abuja

The Chief Registrar of the Court of Appeal, Umar Bangari, has reacted to the raging controversy over the true copy of the judgement of the court sacking Kano State governor, Abba Yusuf, last Friday.

A three-member panel of the Court of Appeal led by Moore Adumein had nullified Mr Yusuf’s election on the ground that he was not an authentic member of his political party, the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), so was not validly nominated as a candidate in the poll.

Consequently, the appellate court declared his closest challenger, Nasiru Gawuna, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the 18 March governorship election.

However, the certified true copy (CTC) of the judgement issued by the Court of Appeal, said Mr Yusuf won the election, contrary to its earlier findings on Friday.

Addressing journalists on Wednesday in Abuja, NNPP’s national secretary, Dipo Olayoku, said the appellate court had thrown his party and the country into confusion.

“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.

“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 judgement after they had concluded deliberations on the matter, and then mistakenly left the original conclusion during the cutting and pasting process.

“To our greatest surprise, the CTC showed that the judgement delivered by Justice Moore Aseimo Abraham Adumein, JCA, and concurred to by Justice Bitrus Gyarazama JCA, Justice Lateef Adebayo Ganiyu, JCA is actually in favour of our candidate, the Governor of Kano State, Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf,” Mr Olayoku said while referencing portions of the judgement.

Appeal Court’s reaction
The Chief Registrar of the appellate court, Mr Bangari, in reaction to the claims, described the discrepancy between what was read in open court and what was contained in the certified true copy of the judgement as a “clerical error”.

He said the error in the body of the judgement does not invalidate the court’s findings.

He said the error would be corrected once lawyers to parties in the suit file their requests in that regard.

Mr Bangari referenced “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.

“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 error and would be done as appropriate,” the Chief Registrar said in a statement on Wednesday.