The Court of Appeal on Monday, reserved judgment in the appeal filed by Gov. Abba Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) against the judgment of the Kano Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.
The court also reserved judgment in the cross appeal by the APC challenging the eligibility of Yusuf to contest the election, having not been a registered member of the NNPP as of the time of the election.
The three-member panel of the court reserved judgment in the appeals to a date that will be communicated to parties in the matter after listening to their submissions.
Recall the tribunal had on Sept. 20 declared the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Nasiru Gawuna, the winner of the March 2023 Kano State governorship election.
The tribunal then sacked Gov. Yusuf after declaring 165,663 of his votes invalid, saying they were not signed or stamped by INEC.
Gov. Yusuf urged the court to set aside the judgement of the tribunal for misapplication of law.
Yusuf’s counsel, Wole Olanipekun, SAN, while adopting his brief of arguments, said the main issue in the matter was the voiding of ballot papers for not being stamped or signed, which he faulted.
He cited the provisions of Section 71 of the Electoral Act 2022 to back his arguments, arguing that the tribunal’s ground for voiding his client’s victory was not the correct position of the law.
The learned silk also argued that the APC governorship candidate in the election was not joined as a party in the petition.
Akin Olujimi, SAN, representing the APC, urged the court to uphold the judgement of the Tribunal, arguing that the non-stamping and signing of ballot papers was against INEC’s regulations.
On the non-joining of the APC governorship candidate in the petition at the Tribunal, Olujimi said votes are cast for political parties and members who are to benefit from the outcome.
In his argument on the cross appeal, Olanipekun said, it was a mere academic exercise as the Supreme Court had ruled that political parties decide who their candidates are.
In another appeal by the NNPP, Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, argued that the Tribunal was wrong to delve into the issue of recounting of ballot papers in chambers.
This, he said, was done, culminating in the cancellation of more than 165, 000 votes from the governor’s total votes in 32 local government areas.
In the appeal filed by INEC’s counsel, Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, he aligned with the submission of Olanipekun that, the Tribunal erred for carrying out a recount of ballot papers in chambers.
He added this was not in an open court to arrive at the judgement, as Tribunals are restrained from doing so under Section 137 of the Electoral Act.
Mahmoud noted that the primary function of the court was to give effect to the will of voters, not to recount or recalculate, stressing that doing so, amounted to rewriting election jurisprudence.
He therefore, urged the court to set aside the judgement.
The APC’s counsel, in his submission, prayed the court to uphold the judgement of the Tribunal, arguing that all the necessary processes were followed to warrant ordering the recount in accordance with the Evidence Act.
INEC had declared Yusuf the winner of the March 18, 2023 election after he secured 1,019,602 votes against his closest opponent, Gawuna, who secured 890,705 votes.
Following APC’s Gawuna’s appeal to the tribunal, the tribunal deducted 165,663 votes from Yusuf’s tally, thereby reducing his votes to 853, 939, that is, over 30,000 votes less than Ganuwa’s 890,705.
The Tribunal then ruled that the APC candidate was the winner of the governorship election and ordered INEC to withdraw Yusuf’s certificate of return and give Gawuna a new one.
This prompted Gov. Yusuf and his party, the NNPP as well as the INEC to appeal the Tribunal’s judgement seeking to upturn it in their favour.