By Lawrence Ekwonu
There is heightened tension in Kano and Sokoto states as the Supreme Court gives its final judgement in the case between governor Abdullahi Ganduje of the All Progressives Congress, APC and his challenger, Abbah Kabir Yusuf of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP over the outcome of the March 2019 gubernatorial election in the state.
In Kano state, the appellant, Abbah Kabir Yusuf, the governorship candidate of the People.s Democratic Party had through his counsel, Adegboyega Awomolo SAN asked the Supreme Court to nullify the election that brought Ganduje to office on the ground of the illegality of the election.
Awomolo in his argument informed the court that the Returning Officer with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC unlawfully cancelled elections in 207 polling units in the 44 Local Government Areas of Kano state during the March 2019 gubernatorial election.
Citing sections 179 of the 1999 Constitution and 69 of the INEC guideline, Awomolo argued that the Returning Officer had no power under any law to have cancelled any election after collation and declaration of the elections have been made.
The senior lawyer also pleaded with the apex court to nullify the result of the March 23 supplementary election conducted by the Returning Officer which led to the emergence of governor Ganduje adding that the supplementary election was unlawfully conducted after the purported cancellation
Awomolo urged the Court to uphold the result in the INEC form EC8D being the final result of the March 9 governorship election legally conducted by INEC and reportedly won by the appellant.
However, Dr. Alex Izinyon, SAN counsel to governor Ganduje urged the Supreme Court Justices to dismiss the appeal for lacking in merit.
The senior lawyer said that contrary to the claim of the appellant form EC8E is the final result sheet for governorship election and not form EC8D adding that the appeal has no legs to stand upon.
Also counsel to INEC, Malam Ahmed Raji SAN sought dismissal of the appeal on the ground that there was no established evidence of election cancellation by any Returning Officer on the Election Day.
Raji told the Justices that the Returning Officer was unable to collate results in the 207 polling units due to violence and snatching of election result sheets.
He specifically informed the Court that it was the agent of the appellant who allegedly snatched election result sheets prompting the conduct of supplementary election in the affected polling units.
Raji pleaded with the apex court to uphold the concurrent findings of the Election Petition Tribunal and the Court of Appeal and sustain the election of Ganduje as being validly conducted and lawfully declared as the governor of Kano state.
Also coming up today is the apex court’s decision on the appeal challenging the election of Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto state.
In the case of Sokoto state, the seven man panel headed by the CJN, fixed today to decide the appeal with No. SC/1466/19; which was filed by the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state, Ahmed Sokoto.
The APC candidate who adopted his brief of argument through his lawyer, Dr. Alex Iziyon, SAN, is challenging the declaration of Tambuwal of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, as the valid winner of the gubernatorial contest.
However, in a counter move, Tambuwal who won the election with a slim margin of 342 votes after a supplementary poll, and was declared winner by both the Tribunal and the Appellate Court, also filed a Cross Appeal marked SC/1467/19.
Tambuwal’s lawyer, Muyiwa Akinboro, SAN, argued that the appellant failed to show any reason why the apex court should tamper with concurrent judgements of the two lower courts.
He contended that the appellant was unable to establish that judgements of both the Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, which affirmed Tambuwal’s election was perverse.
Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto in his submissions challenged the judgements of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and that of the Appeal Court that dismissed his petitions for lack of merit.
