Supreme Court Gives Kano, Bauchi, Zamfara, Cross Rivers Governors Four-Year Lifeline

Supreme Court Gives Kano, Bauchi, Zamfara, Cross Rivers Governors Four-Year Lifeline

The Supreme court on Friday upheld the election of Alhaji Abba Yusuf as Governor of Kano State, reversing the decision of the Court of Appeal and the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, which sacked him as the governor of the commercial state. The Court also affirmed the elections of the governors of Bauchi state, Bala Mohammed

The Supreme court on Friday upheld the election of Alhaji Abba Yusuf as Governor of Kano State, reversing the decision of the Court of Appeal and the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, which sacked him as the governor of the commercial state. The Court also affirmed the elections of the governors of Bauchi state, Bala Mohammed and Zamfara state Dauda Lawal.

Justice John Okoro, who read the lead Judgement in the Kano appeal, said the Court of Appeal was wrong in affirming the decision of the tribunal, which held that Yusuf did not win the majority of lawful votes cast in the governorship election of March 18, 2023.

The apex court raised two issues: whether the lower court was right in deducting 165,616 from the votes the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced for the governor and whether the lower court could determine the issue of party membership.

The court held that the tribunal was wrong in deducting 165,616 votes accrued to Governor Yusuf in the election on grounds that the ballot papers were not signed and stamped by officials of INEC.

According to him, Section 71 of the Electoral Act relied upon by the tribunal to deduct the disputed votes does not apply in the instant case.

The court subsequently went ahead to restore the deducted 165,616 votes to reinstate the victory of Yusuf in the governorship election.

On the second issue, the Supreme Court again faulted the Court of Appeal for holding that Yusuf was not a member of the NNPP as of the time he contested the election, adding that the issue of nomination and sponsorship is a pre-election matter and outside the jurisdiction of the court.

Justice Okoro observed that contrary to the appellate court, the tribunal never held that Alhaji Yusuf was not qualified to contest the poll but that his name was not in the NNPP’s membership register submitted to INEC.

The apex court subsequently set aside the judgment of the two lower courts for being perverse and restored the electoral victory of Governor Abba Yusuf.

The Court of Appeal in Abuja had annulled Alhaji Abba Yusuf’s victory thus affirming the decision of the governorship election petition tribunal that earlier nullified the governor’s election.

A three-member panel of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Moore Adumein, in a unanimous judgement declared Alhaji Nasiru Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the 18 March governorship election in Kano State.

In a unanimous verdict on 20th September,2023, a three-member panel of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal set aside Alhaji Yusuf’s victory after declaring 165,663 of his votes invalid.

The tribunal declared Alhaji Gawuna, who turned out to have the highest number of votes after the deduction from Alhaji Yusuf’s score, as the lawfully elected candidate.

However ,the Court of Appeal hinged its decision on disqualification of Alhaji Yusuf as a candidate in the election.

The court held that he was not a member of the New Nigeria Peoples Party( NNPP) as at the time of the election.

According to the court , without being a member of a political party, Alhaji Yusuf could not have been validly nominated to run for the election in March.

Justice Adumein said :” Alhaji Abba was not a member of the NNPP as of the time he was purportedly sponsored on 18 March for the Kano Governorship election”.

“The tribunal was wrong not have disqualified the appellant, Governor Yusuf. The failure of NNPP to properly sponsor Mr Yusuf according to Section 177 (c) of the constitution, is fatal to their case.

“All the nine issues are hereby resolved against the appellant, the judge held. This appeal is hereby dismissed. The sum of N1 million is awarded as cost against Governor Yusuf,” Justice Adumein declared.

Mr Yusuf, the incumbent governor, who had won the governorship election on the platform of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), is locked in a fierce legal battle with Nasiru Gawuna of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), over the outcome of the poll.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Alhaji Yusuf as the winner of the 18 March election with 1,019,602 votes against Alhaji Gawuna’s 890,705 votes.

Alhaji Yusuf had rode on the popularity of a former governor of the state, Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso, and his political machinery, the Kwankwasiya Movement, to defeat Alhaji Gawuna of the then ruling APC in the state.

Bala Mohammed Wins in Bauchi State

The Supreme Court also upheld the election of Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State.

In a unanimous decision by a five-member panel led by Justice Inyang Okoro dismissed the appeal for want of merit said it found no reason to dislodge the judgements of the lower courts.

The apex court, in its lead judgement that was delivered by Justice Ibrahim Saulawa, dismissed an appeal filed by the All Progressives Congress( APC) and its candidate, Alhaji Sadique Abubakar, to challenge the outcome of the governorship election that was held in the state on March 18, 2023.

Alhaji Abubakar and his party had contended that Governor Mohammed, who was the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party( PDP) was not the valid winner of the gubernatorial contest.

They alleged that the election was not conducted in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act 2022, insisting that several electoral documents that were used during the poll were not properly filled.

However, both the Bauchi State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal and the Court of Appeal in Jos dismissed Alhaji Abubakar’s case and upheld Governor Mohammed’s election victory.

Dissatisfied with the concurrent verdicts of the two lower courts, the APC candidate filed an appeal before the Supreme Court, contending that his case especially the exhibits that were tendered in evidence by the parties was not properly evaluated by the tribunal.

While dismissing the appeal on Friday for want of merit, the apex court, in a unanimous decision by a five-member panel led by Justice Inyang Okoro, said it found no reason to dislodge the judgements of the lower courts.

It resolved all the issues that were formulated by the appellants against them.

Dauda Lawal Wins in Zamfara state

Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State

Also on Friday, the Apex Court also affirmed Alhaji Dauda Lawal of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the validly elected governor of Zamfara state.

The court’s five-member panel overturned the judgment of the court of appeal which declared the Zamfara gubernatorial election inconclusive. The court described the judgment of the appellate court as “perverse”, and ruled in favour of the appeal filed by Alhaji Lawal and his party.

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has declared the March 18th governorship election in Zamfara inconclusive and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to conducts elections in some wards in three local government areas of the state. Technically, the Court sacks the governor but there is still one more window for him to appeal the judgement.

The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared Governor Dauda Lawal of the Peoples Democratic Party winner of the poll ahead of then incumbent and now Minister of Defence, Bello Matawalle of All Progressives Congress.

Not satisfied with the outcome of the election, Matawalle approached the election tribunal to overturn the outcome of the gubernatorial election and declare him the winner on the ground that the poll was full of discrepancies, adding that voting did not take place in some local governments.

However, the Governorship Election Tribunal dismissed the request of the APC candidate for lack of merit to substantiate his request. Displeased with the ruling of the electoral tribunal, Matawalle headed to the appeal court to seek redress and prayed to the appellate court to declare the poll inconclusive.

Delivering the judgment , the three-member panel of the court of Appeal led by Justice Sybil Nwaka Gbagiz overruled the judgement of the tribunal for failing to properly examine the evidence presented before making its ruling.

The appellate court also maintained that the tribunal’s decision was invalid because it relied on the IREV for the collation of election results which is contrary to the Electoral Act. The court also submitted that INEC Results Verification (IREV) portal is not for collation of results, adding that the technology is only meant for results viewing.

The court also observed that there are some local governments where the election results were not counted, and some polling units that did not hold an election during the poll.

Declaring the poll inconclusive, the court validated the prayers of the appellants and, as a result, ordered that the election held in the state be inconclusive.

The court further ruled that INEC must hold fresh elections in Birnin Magaji, Bukun Yum LGA, and Maradun Local Government Areas.

Supreme Court Affirms Governor Otu As C’River Governor

Governor Bassey Otu of Cross Rivers State

The supreme court on Friday also affirmed the election of Mr. Bassey Otu as the governor of Cross River state. The apex court dismissed the appeal filed by Mr. Sandy Onor, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Justice Helen Ogunwumiju, who read the lead judgment, held that the “appeal is without merit, a waste of judicial time and resources”.

In March 2023, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced Governor Otu, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the Cross River governorship election after he scored 258,619 votes.

Mr. Onor who came second scored 179,636 votes. Dissatisfied with the outcome of the election, Mr. Onor approached the tribunal with a three-point petition.

Mr. Onor argued that Mr. Peter Odey, Mr. Otu’s deputy, was still a member of the PDP when he was nominated by the APC. He added that Mr. LOtu did not possess the prerequisite qualifications to contest the election.

In September 2023, the tribunal dismissed the petition filed by Mr. Onor while the court of appeal in November affirmed the election of Governor Otu as the governor of Cross River.

Appeal Court affirmed Cross River governor’s election

A three-member panel of the court, in its judgement, upheld the decision of the state’s Governorship Election Petition Tribunal which had, in September, affirmed Governor Otu’s victory at the 18 March polls.

The Court of Appeal in Lagos, on Wednesday, affirmed the election of Bassey Otu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the governor of Cross River State.

A three-member panel of the court, in its judgement, upheld the decision of the state’s Governorship Election Petition Tribunal which had, in September, affirmed Governor Otu’s victory at the 18 March polls.

The court dismissed the appeal filed by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sandy Onor, a professor, to challenge the decision of the tribunal delivered on 26 September.

The court resolved all the 20 issues raised in the appeal in favour of Mr Otu and against Mr Onor and his party.

According to the court, all the issues canvassed by the appellants, were pre-election matters that should have been litigated at the Federal High Court within 14 days of their happening.

The court ruled that the tribunal was right to decline jurisdiction to determine the issue of the deputy governor, Peter Odey’s membership of a political party. The issue, according to the court, is a pre-election matter, therefore, was statute-barred.

The court also agreed with the tribunal that the appellants did not prove the alleged conflict in the names of the secondary school attended by Mr Otu.

It also ruled that the tribunal was right to reject the testimonies of three petitioners’ witnesses tagged as PW1, PW2 and PW3.

The Court of Appeal held that the witnesses, who were subpoenaed to testify in court, did not fall into the category of witnesses that could be compelled to appear in court by a subpoena, as they were all under the control of the appellants at the material time.

The court further agreed with the tribunal that PW3 did not present academic qualifications or qualifications of practice in the specific field of immigration to show that he was an expert in immigration law.

The court dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit and affirmed Mr Otu and Mr Odey, as the duly elected governor and deputy governor of Cross River State, respectively.

It also awarded N1 million cost against each of the appellants – Mr Otu and PDP – in favour of each of the four rspondents – Messrs Otu and Odey alongside the INEC and the APC.

Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mike Ozekhome, represented the governor and his deputy. J.Y. Musa, also a SAN represented the appellants.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Mr Otu the winner of the 18 March election. The commission said he polled 258,619 votes to defeat PDP’s Mr Onor, who scored 179,636.

But Mr Onor and the PDP had filed a petition to challenge the results declared by the electoral commission. The tribunal, on 26 September, dismissed the petition and affirmed Mr Otu’s victory. Mr Onor proceeded to the Court of Appeal to challenge the tribunal’s judgement.

Although, the Court of Appeal dismissed Mr Onor’s appeal on Wednesday, he has the right to appeal to the Supreme Court which has the final say on disputes arising from governorship elections.

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