Amidst the controversy trailing the court judgement that sacked Abba Kabir Yusuf of the New Nigeria People’s Party, as the governor of Kano State, the Appeal Court has said that its affirmation of the initial judgement of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in the state, still stand.
The appeal court in a bid to clear all the doubts on the judgement claimed that a portion in the certified true copy of its judgement, which Governor Yusuf and his party, the NNPP, claimed to have validated their victory in the March 18 governorship election, was mered by a clerical error.
Making this known through its Chief Registrar, Mr Umar Mohammed Bangari, the appellate court maintained that the said “clerical error”, did not in any way, invalidate or change the unanimous conclusion of the three-member panel of justices that decided the appeal.
According to Bangari, the clerical error would be rectified, once parties in the matter file a formal application to that effect.
The Registrar further stressed that Order 23 Rule 4 of the Court of Appeal HandBook, empowered the court to correct any clerical error, once detected by the court or any of the parties in the matter.
He explained that contrary to insinuations on social media, the judgment of the court remained valid.
Premium Politics reported earlier, that the appellate court had called on the parties involved, to bring the certified copy of the judgement for correction of errors, following the insinuation on social media platforms, that the copy of the judgement affirmed the election of Governor Yusuf.
Reacting to the development, the court said: “What happened in the part of the judgment is just a mere clerical error that ought not to draw any issue.
“The Court is empowered to correct such a clerical error and that will be done as appropriate,” Bangari said.
The NNPP in a press conference held on Wednesday, alleged that the judgement of the appellate court that sacked its candidate and winner of the governorship election, Yusuf, was doctored by the judiciary.
The party further alleged that because the verdict was compromised, it led to a change in the conclusion that was originally reached by the panel.
Premium Politics reported that the appellate court had on November 17, sacked Governor Yusuf, and declared Gawuna of the APC, as the valid winner of the governorship poll in the state.
The court also awarded a cost of N1m against the sacked governor,
maintaining that proof of evidence that was adduced before it, established that the governor was not a member of the NNPP, as at the time the election was held.
It noted that Yusuf, under section 177(c) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, was not qualified to contest the governorship election since he was not validly sponsored by the NNPP.
“A person must be a member of a political party before he can be sponsored for an election.
“Sponsorship without membership is like putting something on nothing,” the court held in its lead judgement that was delivered by Justice M. U. Adumeh.
However, Governor Yusuf and the NNPP had vowed to approach the Supreme Court to set aside the judgement they said, occasioned a grave miscarriage of justice against them.
