Certified true copy of Appeal Court shows NNPP won election in Kano, State Attorney-General claims

A certified True Copy of the Court of Appeal judgment has indicated that the governorship candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP in Kano State, Abba Yusuf won the election as the judgment of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal was set aside for lacking in merit.

This was however, contrary to the judgment delivered which affirmed the judgment of the Tribunal in favour of the All Progressives Congress, APC’s Nasiru Gawuna, thereby stoking confusion in Kano on Tuesday.

This was revealed at a press conference by the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Haruna Isa-Dederi, argued that CTC of the judgment showed that Yusuf’s Victory at the poll was affirmed by the appeal court, against the much publicized judgment last Friday which purportedly upheld the tribunal’s sack of Governor Abba Yusuf.

The emergence of the CTC suggested that last Friday’s judgment against the governor was manipulated minutes to delivering it.
“The evidence contained on page 67 of the copy of the Appeal Court judgment released on Tuesday and signed by Registrar, Jameel Ibrahim Umar, appellate court upheld the victory of Abba Kabiru Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party as duly elected Governor of Kano,” he said.

The appellate court subsequently affirmed Nasiru Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress as the winner of March 25, 2023 governorship poll in the state.

“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.: EPT/KN/GOV/01/2023 between: AL 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.”

In resolving all issues in favour of the appellant (Yusuf), it means the Court of Appeal granted the governor’s appeal to quash his sacking by the tribunal.

But in concluding that he found no merit in the appeal while dismissing it also means that he upheld the decision of the tribunal sacking the governor.

The mix up in the judgment became more pronounced with the judge’s final declaration that the judgment of the tribunal delivered on September 25 sacking the governor is set aside while awarding N1m in favour of the governor and against the first respondent (APC).
The two other justices of the appeal court , Justice Bitrus Sanga and Justice Lateef Ganiyu, agreed with the lead judgment.

CAPITAL POST reported that reports that the three member panel of the appeal court, on Friday, November 17, 2023, had dismissed the appeal filed by the governor on the basis of his membership status.