By Emmanuel Mogbede
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that the trending Court of Appeal Certified True Copy (CTC) judgment affirming the governorship election of Abba Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) as the duly elected governor of Kano State is an error.
Prof. Abdulkarim Kanna, the APC National Legal Adviser, said this while speaking with newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja at the party’s national secretariat.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that there was confusion in Kano State on Tuesday with the emergence of a Certified True Copy (CTC) of the Court of Appeal judgment on the state governorship election.
The widely reported verdict of the court on Nov. 17 indicated that the appellate court upheld the decision of the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal sacking Gov. Abba Yusuf.
However, the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Haruna Isa-Dederi, argued that the CTC of the judgment showed that Yusuf’s victory at the poll was affirmed by the appeal court.
Isa-Dederi at a news conference on Tuesday night, said as indicated in the written judgment, the Court of Appeal set aside the judgment of the Kano Election Petition Tribunal for lacking in merit.
But the APC National Legal Adviser described the development as a mere typographical error that would be corrected by the court.
“We woke up this morning and we are confronted with media reports from different news outlets mostly print media.
“And a few social media posts where the controversy was identified in the released CTC true copy of the judgment of the Court of Appeal that was delivered on Nov. 17, 2023, here in Abuja.
“However, those of us who are lawyers know that typographic errors often occur in certified true copy of court judgments.
“Ordinarily it wouldn’t have been a confusion if it was probably not a political matter because it will not be the first time such typographic mistakes will be seen in judgments.
“And being lawyers, we have been used to a situation like this; all that is done is to merely correct that mistake. The most important thing is a judgment that was read in open court,” Kanna said.
He added that such typographical error was not new within the court system.
Kanna further added that the pronouncement by the three justices at the Appeal Court who concurred with the lead judgment was enough confirmation rather than the false narratives trending on social media.
He said the merits and other facts of judgment of the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal which was delivered on Sept. 28 was upheld by the Appeal Court.
He further added that reading through the entirety of the judgment from lead justice and submissions of different cited cases one could get an idea of what should be the conclusion.
Kanna said the Appeal Court affirmed the tribunal’s decision which declared APC governorship candidate Yusuf Gawuna as duly elected governor of Kano state.
The APC national legal adviser assured that the party would formally request for the CTC of the Appeal Court judgment, adding that whatever error was made may had been corrected.
(NAN)
