Renowned Senior Advocate of Nigeria and human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, expresses dismay over the recently revealed Certified True Copy (CTC) of the Court of Appeal’s judgment on Abba Yusuf’s election as Kano State governor.
In a surprising turn, the three-man panel, led by Chairman Moore Adumein, upheld the tribunal’s decision declaring Nasiru Gawuna of the All Progressive Congress (APC) as the winner of the March 18 governorship election. However, discrepancies emerged when the CTC, signed by the justices, disclosed contradictory declarations not in line with the initial pronouncement.
The appellate court awarded a cost of N1,000,000 in favor of the NNPP against the APC, contrary to its previous stance. The court also seemed to flip-flop, initially resolving in favor of the APC and against Governor Abba Yusuf, only to contradict itself by favoring the NNPP and dismissing the appeal.
Femi Falana, reacting to this confusion, condemned the development as scandalous to the judiciary’s integrity. He criticized the court’s decision to penalize millions of voters for mistakes made by INEC officials, labeling the Kano judgment as full of contradictions that the court can no longer explain.
His words: “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”, Falana added.