KANO: Falana reacts to Court of Appeal’s contradictory judgement, says it is scandalous

By OUR REPORTER

“You will be surprised if I show you the judgement of Kano. That one was almost scandalous. To my utter dismay, the majority judgement upheld the appeal, set aside the judgement of the lower court, and awarded cost in favour of the governor that was removed by the lower tribunal, contrary to the impression that was given out there,” Falana said.

Human rights lawyer and activist, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), said the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgement of the Appeal Court upheld the victory of Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf, contrary to the pronouncement of the judges.

The Senior Advocate of Nigeria, whose comment corroborated The DEFENDER’s report, stated this during an interview on Arise TV on Tuesday, saying the contradictions were “scandalous”.

The revelations of the CTC started filtering out barely 24 hours after the National Secretariat of New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) cried out on Monday November 20 that the Court of Appeal was yet to release the CTC of his Friday judgement sacking its candidate in the March 18 election and Governor of Kano, Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf.

The CTC was major requirement in documents the party and the governor needed to file their final appeal at the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

Former President Olusegun Obadanjo had also on the same Monday kicked that the Court of Appeal’s judgments in Kano, Zanfara and Plateau states were “totally unacceptable”, as he rejected the court rulings saying three to five people (judges) cannot acceptably sit down in one place and overturn decision millions of Nigerians made at polling units.

It will be recalled that the appeal court, in its Friday judgement read by the Chairman of the three-man appeal panel, Moore Adumein, upheld the judgement of the tribunal, which declared the candidate of All Progressive Congress (APC), Yusuf Nasiru Gawuna, as winner of the March 18 governorship election in the state.

But when the Certified True Copy of the judgement was released by the court on Tuesday, this newspaper found out in what was available to it that a number of contradictory declarations were in the judgement.

In the CTC, duly signed by the three justices, the appellate court went further to award N1,000,0000 cost in favour of the NNPP and against the APC, contrary to its Friday pronouncement.

In one instance, the appellate court declared “I will conclude by stating that the live issues in this appeal are hereby resolved in favour of the 1st respondent (APC) and against the appellant (Governor Abba Yusuf)”, but went further to contradict itself in another sentence.

The court said: “In the circumstances, I resolve all the issues in favour of the appellant (NNPP) and against the 1st respondent (APC).”

The court further shot itself on the foot, declaring, “Therefore, I find no merit in this appeal, which is liable to be and is hereby dismissed.”

But in the final line of the judgement, the court set aside the judgement of the tribunal, which sacked the governor.

“The judgement of the tribunal In Petition No.: EPT/KN/GOV/01/2023 between: ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS (APC) v. INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION & 2 ORS. delivered on the 20th day of September, 2023 is hereby set aside,” the CTC of the judgement read.

Reacting to the confusion, Mr. Falana described the development as scandalous to the integrity of the judiciary.

He also faulted the decision of the court to punish millions of voters for the mistake committed by INEC officials.

“You will be surprised if I show you the judgement of Kano. That one was almost scandalous. To my utter dismay, the majority judgement upheld the appeal, set aside the judgement of the lower court, and awarded cost in favour of the governor that was removed by the lower tribunal, contrary to the impression that was given out there.

“The main judgement of the Court of Appeal has confirmed that the judgement of the lower court is wrong and has set it aside in writing and granted all the relief sought by Governor Abba.

“So many contradictions that the court can no longer explain”, Mr Falana added.