Gov Yusuf Sacked by Court of Appeal: APC, NNPP’s Fate at Supreme Court Predicted

Since the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has sacked Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano state, there have been controversies over the appellate court’s verdict.

The Court of Appeal sacked the governor on the credibility of his nomination by the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), a position that Ismail Balogun, a legal practitioner, considered “a suspect”.

Balogun is a legal practitioner who spoke with Legit.ng, posited that the fate of the embattled governor at the Supreme Court is uncertain, adding that the apex court rarely dismissed “two concurring judgments of the lower Courts” except otherwise.

Why tribunal sacked Governor Yusuf of Kano

Before his sack by the Court of Appeal, Governor Yusuf was earlier sacked by the Kano state governorship election petition tribunal after it removed a large number of invalid votes from the votes gathered by the NNPP candidate in the March 18 governorship election in the state.

The trial court removed 165,663 votes of Governor Yusuf, stating that the ballot papers were neither signed nor stamped by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

After his invalid votes, the court found Nasir Yusuf Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as having the highest votes and therefore declared him the winner of the election.

The court then ordered INEC to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Governor Yusuf and issued a fresh one to Gawuna of the APC.

Lawyer predicts uncertainty for Governor Yusuf at Supreme Court

Reacting to the judgment while speaking with Legit.ng, the legal icon foresaw uncertainty for the NNPP governor over the judgments that were being challenged at the Supreme Court.

He said:

In my mind, the probability of success at the Supreme Court is shrouded in the web of uncertainty. This is because he is now dealing with two concurring judgments of the lower Courts, and the Supreme Court rarely overturns concurring judgments unless the same is perverse or there was a miscarriage of justice.

However, the decision of the Court of Appeal on sponsorship of the Kano Governor by the NNPP is a suspect. One will question the correctness of such a pronouncement, given that the issue of nomination and sponsorship of candidates is an internal affair of a political party and thus a pre-election matter over which both the Governorship Election Tribunal and the Court of Appeal lack jurisdiction. In any event, we should wait for what the Supreme Court has to say on the issues presented.

Source: Legit.ng