Appeal Court sacks Abba as Kano gov, affirms Gawuna
Upholds Bala Mohammed as Bauchi gov Courts now decide election outcomes – Kwankwaso supporters We ‘ll reclaim mandate at Supreme Court – Ousted gov Ganduje says ex-deputy better Praises, knocks trail judgements
The Court of Appeal in Abuja yesterday upheld the nullification of the election of Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State in the March 18 governorship election over non-qualification.
A three-member panel of justices led by Justice Moore A. Adumein upturned the appeal of Governor Yusuf challenging the verdict of the tribunal in favour of Nasir Yusuf Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The panel held that Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) was not a registered member of the party, and, therefore, not qualified to contest the election.
The panel held that every political party shall maintain the register of its members 30 days before their primaries as provided in Section 77 of the Electoral Act, 2022.
The court said the appellant to his own detriment did not submit his NNPP membership registrar or even tender his statement on oath regarding his membership of the party.
The court said the 1999 Constitution made it mandatory for a political party to have a membership register and submit the same to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the tribunal when needed.
“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,” Justice Adumein said.
The Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal had on September 20 declared Gawuna and APC winner of the March 18 election after admitting their allegations of electoral malpractices.
The tribunal overturned INEC’s announcement of Yusuf with 1,019,602 votes against Gawuna’s 890,705 votes following APC’s petition.
In nullifying the election, the tribunal agreed with the APC that over 160,000 ballot papers “were not signed or stamped by INEC.”
Yusuf ’s votes were subsequently reduced by 165,663 to 853,939, while Ganuwa’s 890,705 votes were not affected.
Court upholds Bala Mohammed as Bauchi governor
The appellate court also dismissed the appeal challenging the victory of Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State during the March 18 election.
The three-member panel of justices, on Friday unanimously held that the appeal by AVM Sadique Abubakar lacked merit.
In the lead judgement by Justice Chidiebere Nwaoma Uwa held that Abubakar and the APC failed to prove the allegations of malpractices and non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022 against Governor Mohammed.
The appeal was filed following INEC’s declaration of Mohammed as winner with 525,280 votes while Abubakar scored 433,272.
Courts now decide election outcomes – Kwankwaso supporters
Meanwhile, the NNPP and Kwankwasiyya supporters have expressed shock over the judgement.
One of the persons disappointed by the appeal court judgement is the executive director of the Organisation for Community Civic Engagement, Abdulrazaq Alkali.
Alkali said he was disappointed by the judgement because the law courts now decide outcomes of electoral contests, while also saying that the judgement is a disincentive for popular participatory democracy because it is capable of discouraging voters from coming out to vote on election day.
He said, “The NNPP won popular votes in Kano. The party won 18 out of 24 federal constituency seats, two out of three senatorial seats, 26 state constituencies and the governorship election with a wide margin. Why then should the court, relying on technicalities, sack the governor elected by the people?”
Similarly, a Kano-based private legal practitioner, Ali Jamilu, expressed surprise with the position of the appellate court that Abba was not qualified to contest the election for not being a member of the NNPP when the complaint is not from a member of the party as earlier decided by the Supreme Court.
He said the basis for the nullification of the election at the appellate court was different from the basis relied on by the tribunal.
However, a lawyer and academic, Nura Ado Ayagi, said the appeal court judgement was based on facts and provisions of the law, and therefore, sees nothing wrong with it.
Ayagi said the judgement would not be surprising to anyone conversant with the provisions of the law.
On the disqualification of Governor Yusuf for not being a member of the NNPP, which the tribunal held was an internal affair of the party, Ayagi said the issue of qualification was a constitutional matter, and therefore, not an internal affair of a party.
On the argument of Governor Yusuf and the NNPP that Gawuna was not a petitioner in the case and could not benefit from the judgement, Nura Ayagi said the Appeal Court had resolved this in his favour based on new amendment to the electoral act and other extant laws, that once a candidate is sponsored by a political party, whether he is joined or not, he can benefit from outcome of a legal case.
We ‘ll reclaim mandate at Supreme Court – Ousted gov
Meanwhile, the ousted governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf has vowed to reclaim his mandate at the Supreme Court.
Abba in a broadcast after the judgment, said, “We have already instructed our legal team to proceed in filing a case at the Supreme Court. We are hopeful this time around this court will return to the good people of Kano what they voted for.”
The governor further assured the people of the state of synergy and cooperation with security agencies in ensuring the protection of lives and properties.
Ganduje says ex-deputy better
The national chairman of the APC and former governor of Kano State, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has hailed the Court of Appeal judgement that sacked Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf and declared the governorship candidate of the APC winner of the poll.
Reacting to the judgement during a press conference on Friday in Abuja, Ganduje said Gawuna’s administration would provide better opportunities for the masses and record more achievements than his eight years as governor of the state.
Ganduje expressed optimism that even if Abba Yusuf files an appeal at the Supreme Court, the APC would defeat him to clinch the Kano governorship seat.
He said, “I thank Allah for this important judgement. We have to thank the judiciary for providing good administration of justice despite all the distractions that took place since the beginning of the case.
“There is no doubt that this is victory for democracy. It is a victory for APC and Kano State. This is an indication that democracy has come to stay in Nigeria. We can say that democracy is mature in Nigeria. We have to thank all those stakeholders, including political parties, even the NNPP that took us to the Appeal Court.
“For Kano State, this victory is for all of us. We know what happened during the election. A lot of malpractices happened and we took the issue to the tribunal, and by the grace of God, we got a fair judgement in favour of our great party, the APC.
“Now, the government in power, the NNPP, decided to go to the Court of Appeal, and this morning (yesterday), by the power of God, the Court of Appeal affirmed the judgement of the lower court. And by so doing, our gubernatorial candidate, Dr Nasiru Gawuna is the duly elected governor of Kano State.
“But in all, probably they will go to the Supreme Court, which is part of democracy. There is nothing wrong for them to go to the apex court. We too are ready to meet them in the Supreme Court; and Insha Allah, we will win.
“But we want to assure the people of Kano State that the good administration that was provided in my eight years with my deputy, Dr Nasiru Gawuna, now the governor-elect for Kano State, will provide a similar or even better administration. More achievements will be recorded in Kano State because that is what we expect.”
Also speaking, Gawuna expressed happiness over the judgement and assured the people of the state of good governance under his watch.
Knocks, praises trail judgements
Reacting to the judgement that upheld his election, Governor Bala Mohammed expressed satisfaction, describing it as a true reflection of the people’s choice.
He called on the opposition to shelve their sword and submit to the will of God, adding that it is now time for him to consolidate on the implementation of the laudable projects aimed at improving the quality of the lives of citizens in the state.
On his part, the APC candidate, Abubakar (retd), who spoke through his spokesperson, Comrade Sabo Mohammed, rejected the judgement, describing it as sad.
“It is sad because we expected a fair deal in the appellate court. But that notwithstanding, as a law-abiding political party, and our principal as a well-cultured person who believes in due diligence, in a couple of days he will be consulting his legal team for the next line of action,” he said.