By Adadareporters
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, Friday, dismissed the appeal filed by the governor of Kano State, Mallam Abba Kabir Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), against the verdict of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal which declared the All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate, Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, winner of the state’s governorship poll held on March 18.
The Independent National Electronic Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Yusuf winner of the March 18, 2023 election with 1,019,602 votes to defeat Gawuna who got 890,705 of the votes cast.
But the APC approached the tribunal, citing alleged electoral malpractice. The tribunal agreed with the APC, and nullified Yusuf’s election, maintaining that over 160,000 ballot papers “were not signed or stamped by INEC”.
Yusuf’s votes were subsequently reduced to 853,939 while Ganuwa’s 890,705 votes were not affected.
The three-man panel of the tribunal led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan Osadebay sacked Yusuf on September 20, 2023, after deducting 165,663 of his votes. The governor then filed an appeal before the appellate court.
The APC, INEC and the NNPP also entered cross-appeals before the court, asking the appellate court to set aside the judgment.
Abba’s counsel, Wole Olanipekun, SAN, argued that the tribunal’s decision against his client was not validly made.
However, APC’s counsel, Akin Olujimi, SAN, argued that the tribunal was right to evaluate the evidence placed before in nullifying Yusuf’s election.
The three-man panel of the appellate court held that it can be seen that the tribunal acted in the overall interest of justice when it allowed APC’s tendering of documents during trial because INEC released documents to the APC piecemeal in order to defeat the petition of the petitioner.
The appeal court also held that Olanipekun’s insistence that APC ought to have joined its candidate, Ganuwa, as a party at the tribunal proceedings, was not backed by the 1999 Constitution as a candidate is entitled to be represented by his political party during litigation. The panel held that every political party shall maintain the register of its voters.
The court said the appellant to his own detriment did not submit his NNPP membership registrar or even tendered his statement on oath regarding his membership of the party. According to the court, the 1999 Constitution made it mandatory for a political party to have a membership register and submit the same to INEC and the Tribunal when needed.
The panel held that, “As rightfully found, Yusuf Abba was not a member of the NNPP at the time he was purportedly sponsored by his party and he was not qualified to contest the March Governorship Election.
“If you claim to be a member of a political party, is it not logical for you to say so by yourself and not by proxy? Even though membership of a political party is an internal affair, a political party cannot be permitted to circumvent or breach the provisions of the 1999 Constitution. The tribunal was wrong not to have disqualified the appellant.
“Therefore the failure of the appellant and the NNPP to comply with the 1999 Constitution is fatal to their election.
All issues in this appeal are dismissed and the judgment of the tribunal is affirmed.”
