Supreme Court saved Kano from crisis by restoring Abba Yusuf’s guber mandate – Commentators

By Ebere Agozie, Abuja/Emmanuel Oloniruha, Abuja/Adeyemi Adeleye, Lagos/Aminu Garko, Kano

Jan. 12,2024

The Supreme Court judgement that upheld the election of Abba Yusuf as the duly elected governor of Kano State has received acclaim from a wide range of commentators with some insisting that there would have been a major crisis in the state if the verdict had been otherwise.

The apex court had, Friday, set aside the verdicts of the Court of Appeal and election petitions tribunal, which nullified the victory of Yusuf in the March 18, 2023 governorship poll.

A five-member panel of the apex court, in a judgment delivered by Justice John Okoro, held that the tribunal and the Court of Appeal erred by sacking Yusuf, candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), as governor of the state.

Justice Okoro, who delivered the lead judgment, held that the law and natural justice were turned upside down by the two courts below to arrive at the unjust and unfair decision.

Okoro while voiding and setting aside the judgments of the two lower courts said that miscarriage of justice in the ways and manners the petition against the governor was handled was manifest.

The Court of Appeal and the Tribunal had in their concurrent judgments annulled the election of Yusuf of the NNPP and declared Nasiru Gawuna of the All Progressives Party (APC) winner of the election.

However, the Supreme Court held that two major, fundamental flaws were discovered in the findings of the Tribunal and the Court of Appeal which led to the miscarriage of justice.

Okoro added that the allegations of the APC that the Governor was not a member of the NNPP at the time he stood for the election and which the Tribunal used to overturn his victory is against the provisions of the law.

He held that membership of the NNPP by the governor cannot be challenged by APC on the ground of being internal affairs of the party.

“The issue of party membership cannot be raised as a post election matter as done by the APC and its governorship candidate and wrongly upheld by the Tribunal and the Court of Appeal.

“The Governor’s nomination was submitted to INEC in an NNPP letter head paper jointly signed by the party’ national Chairman and national Secretary.

“No member of the NNPP had queried the action except the APC in its petition before the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal”.

The Apex Court also reversed the unlawful removal of 165, 616 votes from the total votes cast for the NNPP and its governorship candidate at the poll.

The court said that there was no basis for the unlawful removal of the votes from the governor’s votes because the ballot papers used for the poll were duly issued by the INEC.

The apex court dismissed the allegations that the ballot papers were not signed and stamped at the back

Okoro said that there was no scintilla of evidence from any witness or documentary exhibits that the ballot papers were illegal and unlawful as erroneously concluded by the Court of Appeal

The apex court, therefore, agreed with the governor that miscarriage of justice was perpetrated against him in the ways and manners his election was nullified.

Okoro ordered that the 165, 616 votes unlawfully deducted from the governor be returned to him.

The Apex Court, while allowing the appeal of the governor and the NNPP, dismissed the two judgments earlier granted in favour of the APC and its governorship candidate on the ground that the judgments were erroneously entered in their favour.

NAN reports that Yusuf , and his party NNPP, had filed an appeal against the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which had affirmed his sacking as earlier pronounced by the Kano State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal.

The tribunal had sacked Yusuf and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw his certificate of return and instead issue same to to Nasir Yusuf Gawuna.

However, not satisfied with the Tribunal judgment, Yusuf had approached the Appeal Court. But the appellate court had, while affirming his sack, further held that the governor was not a member of the party as of the time of the election and could not have been said to have been properly sponsored for the election.

Reacting to the verdict of the apex court, the NNPP’s National Secretary, Dipo Olayoku, described it as the restoration of hope for the people of the state.

Olayoku in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja said the judgment was also a confirmation of the victory that God gave NNPP on March 18, 2023.

“The party is just appealing to politicians to try to win elections through the ballot boxes and not through the back door.

“I think the Supreme Court has deflated that and we want the other arms of the judiciary to also stand up to the truth,” he said.

Olayoku, who is also the Deputy National Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), said that the judgment did not come to the party as a surprise, because everybody knew that NNPP won the March 18, 2023, governorship election in the state.

He said there was no way the APC could have claimed to have won the election in the state where the NNPP won the presidential election, won two out of three Senatorial seats, and 18 out of 24 House of Assembly seats.

“In the governorship elections, we defeated APC with about 200,000 votes, in the House of Assembly of 40 seats, we have 26. So what will be the yardstick for them to win governorship?

“We thank God that the Supreme Court have restored the hope of the people,” he said.

He said that though the governor was never distracted by the petition in delivering the dividends of democracy to the people of the state, with the outcome from the court he was now poised to do more.

“Now that the court cases have been put behind us, I know the governor is going to be more focused on delivering the dividends of democracy,” he said.

He assured the people of Kano that Yusuf would continue to implement his master plan and blueprint for the state, while building on the template and achievements set by the NNPP leader, Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso, who was once the governor of the state.

“He cannot go below the standard set by Kwankwaso when he was governor.

“If you look at what he has been doing since when he got there, you will discover that had hit the ground running.

“We can guarantee the people of Kano state that there is no cause for alarm. He already has his master plan and he is following it without any disruption,” he said.

Prof. Pat Utomi, a renowned Political Economist and Chieftain of  the Labour Party (LP) said Supreme Court’s verdict is a relief stressing that the ruling was consistent with the passion of the electorate in Kano state.

Utomi, also a former LP presidential aspirant, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Friday that the apex Court’s verdict, which set aside the judgments of the lower courts that sacked the lone NNPP governor in the country, made a lot of sense.

He said the verdict is consistent with the passion of the people of Kano. “I was in Kano last month  and I could feel what the pulse of the people was,” he said, noting that it was also part of the way forward for the country.

Utomi, also the Convener of the National Consultative Front (NCFront) pointed out that bearing in mind that Kano has always been the traditional seat of the Aminu Kano brand of politics, it was a relief that the right thing was done by the court.

According to him, as an old Kano boy who started school in  the state in 1960, he knew how strong the spirit of artisan, independent people has continued to dominate Kano politics.

Counselling political gladiators in Kano, Utomi said that service to ordinary people should remain the cornerstone and priority in governance.

“They should look forward to the politics of service to the people. The failure of Nigeria so far has been ‘machine politics’ that focuses on power and not service to the people.

“That focus on power has led to a situation where the people have become alienated, and the response is the increased violence that we see everywhere in the country.

“If the political class will just imagine that they have greater and better interest in growing Nigeria, they will learn to accommodate one another for democracy to take place.

“It is not the business of using muscles to push out others. That is not sustainable. It only goes for a season, and everybody, including those who are doing it, will pay their price,” he said.

The Lagos State NNPP Secretary, Mr. Sheriff Oladejo, while reacting to the judgment, told NAN that the apex court had reaffirmed that only the electorate determine who rule people.

“The Supreme Court has done justice to the governorship election petitions; we give glory to almighty God for this overwhelming and unanimous decision of the highest court in the land.

“For some of us, we are extremely surprised by the decisions of the two lower courts, for their miscarriage of justice, but the Justice Okoro-led five man panel has done justice to this case.

“In his ruling, he also scolded the lower courts for what he described as a voyage of discovery on the membership of Gov. Abba Yusuf to NNPP.  Ordinarily, it is a matter for political parties to determine who their members are.

“The good people of this country and, particularly voters in Kano state, knew who they voted for and who deserved to be their governor.”

Oladejo commended the courage and commitment of the judiciary in reinstating Yusuf and averting serious political crisis in  Kano state.

According to him, the ruling put to rest, all  litigations against Yusuf’s mandate and also restored absolute confidence in the state government to provide most needed dividends of democracy to the people.

Some residents of Kano on Friday also lauded the Supreme Court for standing by the truth and not yielding to any influence in deciding the appeal filed by Gov. Abba Yusuf of Kano State.