Abba Vs Gawuna: Will Supreme Court Deliver Unprecedented Judgement on Kano Guber Tussle?
By Ya’u Muktar Madobi
After the tribunal and appeal court rulings over the gubernatorial elections between Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna of the candidate of All Progressive Congress (APC) and Abba Kabiru Yusuf, the incumbent Kano State Governor elected under the platform of the New Nigeria Peoples Party/(NNPP), there are feeling that apex court may deliver an unprecedented judgement.
Any moment from now, PRNigeria gathered that the Supreme Court of Nigeria will pass the verdict on the judgement it earlier reserved between the two contenders for the 2023 governorship election.
Recall that Governor Abba filed an appeal before the apex court challenging his sacking from office by an election tribunal and the Court of Appeal.
Mr. Yusuf, a member of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, was declared winner of the Kano State governorship election held on 18 March by Independent National Election Commission (INEC).
But the All-Progressives Congress (APC) challenged the outcome of the election, alleging electoral malpractices.
The APC camp had been enjoying a good atmosphere courtesy of the two previous judgements by the lower courts, but the situation seems to take a new dramatic twist after the hearing of the case as filed by Governor Yusuf at the Supreme Court.
This development has given some sort of breathing oxygen to the NNPP camp who are now having more confidence than before, with a hope that the final Supreme Court ruling will be in their favour.
Recall the Kano Governorship Election Petition Tribunal September 20, 2023 sacked Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, Nasiru Gawuna, as the winner of the March 18 election.
The court of three-man panel chaired by Justice Oluyemi Akintan-Osadebay deducted 165,663 votes from Yusuf’s total as invalid votes, stating that the affected ballot papers were not stamped or signed and therefore declared invalid.
The ruling comes about six months after the APC candidate conceded defeat to Yusuf in the wake of INEC’s presentation of the certificate of return to the NNPP candidate.
Similarly, the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on November 17, 2023 also nullified the election of Governor Yusuf who had sought the court to set aside the verdict of the lower court.
Ruling on the matter, Justice Moore Adumein who read the unanimous judgment of the Appeal Court upheld the ruling of the tribunal, saying the governor was not qualified to contest the poll because he was not a member of NNPP at the time the elections were conducted.
*Position of Yusuf Lawyer at Supreme Court*
During the address at the Supreme Court, Governor Yusuf’s lawyer, Wole Olanipekun, said there was no legal basis for the tribunal and the appellate court to invalidate his client’s election on account of non-compliance with electoral guidelines.
He said the electoral guidelines did not envisage the cancellation of an election on the grounds that the electoral umpire failed to stamp or sign the ballots.
But while arguing before the Supreme Court, Mr Olanipekun said an expert witness testified at the tribunal that only a fraction of votes – 1,886 ballots – were not signed, yet the courts nullified 165,616 votes.
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The lawyer wondered why the governor should be punished for the failure of the electoral commission to stamp, date and sign the ballots that were used for the conduct of the March election.
On the issue of Mr Yusuf’s membership of the NNPP, Mr Olanipekun referenced a plethora of cases where the Supreme Court held that the membership of a political party cannot be challenged by another political party.
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However, Mr Gawuna’s lawyer, Akin Olujinmi prayed the Supreme Court to dismiss the appeal and affirm the concurrent findings of the courts.
Citing Section 42 of Electoral Act and regulation 19 of INEC, Mr Olujinmi argued that the returning officers of electoral umpire ought to have stamped, dated and signed the 165,616 ballots that are being disputed.
Mr Olujinmi disagreed with Mr Olanipekun that only 1,886 votes were said not to have been endorsed by INEC. He added that when the witness was cross-examined at the tribunal, the expert witness said 165,616 votes and that the evidence remained unchanged.
Referencing section 177 (c) of the Nigerian constitution, Mr Olujinmi contended that the lower court had jurisdiction to hear and determine the issue of Mr Yusuf’s membership of the NNPP.
The lawyer said that the NNPP produced the membership register of Mr Yusuf and his name was conspicuously absent and that Yusuf did not address the court on the issue.
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*Position of INEC Lawyer at the Supreme Court*
Also addressing the Supreme Court panel, INEC lawyer, Abubakar Mahmoud, said all the ballots used in the conduct of the Kano State governorship election were provided by the electoral commission.
“The ballot papers belonged to INEC. Those were our ballot papers in the area where the election took place,” Mr Mahmoud said, replying to Mr Okoro’s question about the source of the disputed ballots.
Mr Mahmoud further argued that it was not the duty of the electorate to check the source of a ballot at the polls before casting their ballots.
Speaking on the issue of Mr Yusuf’s membership of the NNPP, Mr Mahmoud said, “this clearly is an internal affair of the party; it is not a constitutional breach.”
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The Palpable Anticipation
Nonetheless, what the public are now eagerly anticipating seeing is whether the Supreme Court will for the first time in the history of the State, nullify the election of incumbent Governor in Kano or maintain the status quo of upholding his victory as declared by the electoral umpire – INEC.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court had in recent years sacked some sitting Governors in Nigeria thereby paving way for their opponents to take over their positions.
These included Mukhtar Shehu of APC whose victory was nullified in favour of Bello Matawalle of PDP in Zamfara State, Bayelsa governor-elect, David Lyon of APC who was replaced by Douye Diri of PDP and Emeka Ihedioha of PDP, the Governor of Imo State who lost his seat to Hope Uzodinma of APC accordingly.
Notwithstanding, the ball remains rolling in the court of the five-member panel of the Supreme Court headed by John Okoro, who is set to seal the fate of Kano citizens any time from now.
Thus, the public continued to watch as the events kept unfolding.
The appeal lapses on 14 January, 2024. Therefore, the Supreme Court must deliver judgement on the suit within the statutory 60 days it has to determine appeals on governorship election disputes.
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