The Supreme Court has reserved judgment in the appeal pertaining to the Kano State gubernatorial election.
Following the hearing from the parties involved, a
five-member panel of judges led by Justice Inyang Okoro on Thursday, December
21, reserved their decision.
Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf and the New Nigeria
People Party (NNPP) have filed an appeal against the Court of Appeal’s
November 17 ruling, which declared the candidate of the All Progressives
Congress (APC) Yusuf Gawuna as the winner of March 26, gubernatorial
election in the state.
The party also told Supreme Court that there were
inconsistencies in the CTC ruling that invalidated the governor’s election and
granted him N1 million in damages.
The appeal of All Progressives Congress member Nasir Yusuf
Gawuna was sustained by a three-judge bench presided over by Justice Moore A.
Adumein (APC).
The tribunal determined that Yusuf, a member of the New
Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), lacked party registration and, as a result, was
unable to run for office.
However, parties disputed the court’s authority over a
candidate’s political party membership during the lengthy hearing before the Supreme
Court on Thursday.
Breakdown of Hearing
At the day’s proceedings of the hearing of the Kano
Governorship Appeal, Justice Okoro urged counsels involved in the matter to
meet and agree on which of the nine appeals and cross-appeals that should be
heard, with the outcome binding on the remaining eight.
A consensus was reached by all the parties to make the main
appeal which shall be heard by the apex court, with cross appeals such as that
questioning the membership of Abba Yusuf abiding with the outcome.
Counsel for the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC), Abubakar Mahmoud, began by stating that the key witness whose testimony
was the ground for deducting the 165,616 votes of Yusuf deemed unlawful were
subpoened to give evidence.
He said that his testimony was inadmissible for not being
front-loaded along with the main petition at the Tribunal and as such his
testimony and exhibits tendered are therefore incompetent.
INEC’s counsel informed the court that the said contested 165,616
ballot papers were authentic and originated from INEC and not elsewhere. He
said it is not the duty of a voter, on the day of the election, to check if a
ballot paper is signed or stamped and without the date of the election, adding
that’s the task of a party agent.
Mahmoud further informed the court that the recounting of
votes was done privately at the tribunal chambers after the deduction of the
contested 165,616 votes.
He added that even when they were brought to the Court of
Appeal they weren’t demonstrated.
INEC’s counsel further told the apex court panel that only a
portion of the unlawful ballots were examined at the tribunal.
Mahmoud clarified that he is not taking sides except
concerning the correct interpretation of the law.
On Yusuf’s membership of the New Nigeria’s Peoples Party
(NNPP), he stated that is an internal affair of the political party concerned
and not for an external body, citing previous decisions of the apex court.
He added that it is not a constitutional matter as being
claimed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) which relied on Section 177(c)
of the Constitution, as amended, and Section 77 of the Electoral Act.
Mahmoud faulted the practice of political parties that seek
to use the Court as an “arena” to get victory after the voters had decided.
He informed the apex court that the New Nigeria Peoples
Party (NNPP) submitted the name of Abba Yusuf as its candidate for the
governorship election and that if the APC had anything against Yusuf’s
candidacy, it should have done so after INEC published the names of candidates.
Counsel to Governor Yusuf, Wole Olanipekun, faulted the
nullification of his electoral victory on grounds of the INEC presiding officer
failing to sign or stamp the ballot papers.
Wole Olanipekun argued that that has nothing to do with the
Electoral Act, insisting it is on INEC’s guidelines and as such not sufficient
grounds to deem the votes unlawful, warranting nullification.
Olanipekun further told the court that based on the evidence
given by an expert witness during the Tribunal stage of the matter, only about
1,800 ballots were not signed or stamped and that those are insignificant
figures and as such insufficient to void the election.
On the membership of Yusuf, Olanipekun stressed that it is
the internal affair of the party concerned, with the courts therefore lacking
jurisdiction to decide on the choice of a political party’s candidate. He
therefore prayed the court to upturn the decision of the Appeal Court which
affirmed the decision of the tribunal sacking the governor.
Counsel for APC, Akin Olujimi, insisted that Section 177(c)
of the Constitution is a key determiner of the Kano matter and that the matter
being a constitutional issue gives it jurisdiction to decide on it.
On November 13, the Court of Appeal upheld the verdict of
the tribunal. In its ruling, the Appeal Court agreed with the judgement of the
tribunal, ruling that the fielding of Abba Yusuf was in breach of the Electoral
Law as he was not qualified to contest that election.
In September, the tribunal nullified the victory of Yusuf,
the candidate of the NNPP in the March 18 governorship election.
The tribunal also affirmed Nasiru Gawuna of the APC as the
duly elected governor of Kano.