By Halimah Olamide
Trouble appears to be brewing on who indeed won the governorship election in Kano as the Certified True Copy of the judgment has contradicted the open court pronouncement of the tribunal.
While the Appeal tribunal ruled in favour of the All Progressive Congress, Nasir Yusuf Gawuna, the CTC has shown that the judgment on Kano State governorship election affirmed the victory of Kabiru Yusuf as the duly elected governor of Kano state.
The state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Haruna Isa-Dederi, made the disclosure while addressing newsmen on Tuesday in Kano.
Isa-Dederi said in the fresh revelation as contained in the written judgment, the Court of Appeal set aside the judgment of the Kano election petition tribunal for lacking in merit.
“The evidence contained in page 67 of the Certified True Copy of the Appeal Court judgment released on Tuesday and signed by Registrar Jameel Ibrahim Umar, the appellate court upheld the victory of Abba Kabiru Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) as duly elected Governor of Kano state,” he said.
The court stated in the CTC that: “The judgment of the Tribunal in Petition No: PT/KN/GOV/01/2023 between All Progressives Congress (APC) Vs Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) & 2 Others, delivered on the 20th day of September 2023, is hereby set aside.”
The court also awarded a N1 cost against the APC.
Dederi noted that page 67 of the certified copy of the judgment clearly indicated that the tribunal’s ruling that sacked Yusuf was set aside.
He averred that contrary to what the Judges read to the public in the court room on the 17th November, the written evidence has vindicated Yusuf as the legitimate governor of Kano state.
According to the attorney general, this latest discovery will strengthen their position at the Supreme Court. Having been earlier sacked by the state governorship election petition tribunal, the governor who approached the Court of Appeal seeking to upturn the tribunal’s judgment is the appellant before the appellate court.
The APC, the Independent National Electoral Commission and the NNPP are the first, second and third respondents in the matter.
According to the CTC, Justice Adumein continued, “In the circumstances, I resolve all the issues in favour of the appellant and against the first respondent.” There are fears that the issue is capable of stirring cases in the state.