Nasarawa Guber: Appeal Court Overturns Tribunal Verdict, Reinstates Abdullahi Sule

The Abuja Division of the Appeal Court on Thursday reversed the sack of the Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule by the State Election Petitions Tribunal in its judgment delivered on October 2. Declaring the tribunal verdict a nullity, the court held that the Ezekiel Ajayi-led tribunal acted in grave error in using witness statements on oath and not front-loaded as required by law to arrive at the unjust conclusion of nullifying the election of the governor. The appellate court, in its judgment delivered by Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam, said that the Tribunal was legally bound to act on witness statements filed along with the petition or front loaded within 21 days stipulated by law. The Court held that no petition can lawfully be amended outside the 21 days allowed by law as wrongly done by the Tribunal. Since the statements used by the Tribunal to sack the Governor were not front loaded in compliance with law, the statements were product of illegality with no probate value tor a law Court to act upon. The Court also dismissed the over voting issues also used to annul the election adding that allegations to that were not established by law. Justice Onyemenam held that the petition by the Governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party PDP was a nullity and invalid on the ground that the jurisdictional issues raised by the governor was unlawfully ignored by the Tribunal. According to the Court of Appeal, the Tribunal denied the governor fair hearing by not considering and making findings on the issues of jurisdiction raised at the hearing of the petition. Justice Onyemenam agreed that denial of fair hearing against the governor was fatal and tendered all decisions of the Tribunal invalid. In all, the Court of Appeal reversed all orders made against the governor and the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC and affirmed Sule as the lawfully elected governor of the state. INEC had declared Sule winner of the governorship election on the ground that he polled a total of 347,209 votes to defeat his closest opponent David Emmanuel Ombugadu who secured 283,016 votes. In a split decision on October 2, the tribunal nullified Sule’s election and upheld Ombugadu as the winner.

Court Orders EFCC, CBN To Release Ex-NNPC Boss, Andrew Yakubu’s $9.8m Cash

Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Monday ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to immediately release the $9.8 million belonging to the former Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), Andrew Yakubu. The anti-graft agency had refused to release the cash they took from Yakubu’s house, despite an earlier judgment ordering the release of the money. The court said the money must be deposited with the Chief Registrar of the court, in the interest of justice. Yakubu had approached the court seeking an order compelling the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and two other defendants to release his money. Yakubu in April 2023 sued the EFCC, Central Bank of Nigeria and Guaranty Trust Bank for failing to release the money after a court acquitted him of money laundering charges filed against him by the anti-graft agency. Recall that EFCC had urged Justice A.R Mohammed to convict Yakubu after it discovered $9, 772, 800 (9.7 million dollars) and £74, 000 from an apartment linked to him in 2017. In his defense, Ahmed Raji SAN, asked the court to dismiss the EFCC’s case for lacking in merit. Justice A.R Mohammed, on March 31, 2022, had quashed the money laundering charges instituted against Yakubu. Yakubu also testified before the judge that the monies found in his house were gifts from friends and associates. The judge had agreed with the defendant’s submissions; acquitted him and ordered the release of his money. But Yakubu’s lawyer approached another court presided by Justice Inyang Ekwo over the non-release of the money as directed by the other court. By way of originating summons, he had urged the court to order the release of his money or in the alternative, direct that the money be deposited with the FHC registrar pending the determination of the suit. But the EFCC, through its lawyer, Faruk Abdullah, raised an objection to the application, saying appeals have been entered against the subsisting trial court judgment. The EFCC also contended that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter. Passing his judgement on Monday, Justice Inyang Ekwo dismissed the preliminary objection of the EFCC, saying the arguments of the respondents contradicted themselves and called to question the whereabouts of the money. Ekwo held it would be in the interest of justice if the sum is kept in a neutral custody pending the conclusion of proceedings, in line with rules of court. Ekwo held that based on the contradictory arguments of the respondents about on whose custody the money was domiciled, the justice of the case demands that they must produce the money. “The plaintiff has made a compelling case and it succeeds and I so hold. “An order is hereby made directing the first and second defendant to immediately transfer $9.8 million into the account under the control of the Chief Registrar of this court,” the Judge held.

Kano Guber: Tribunal Sacks Gov Yusuf, Declares APC’s Gawuna Winner

*Judges Deliver Judgement Via Zoom  The Kano Governorship Election Petition Tribunal has sacked Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, declaring the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the March 18 election. Yusuf, who contested on the platform of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) was declared winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). While Nasir Gawuna, his APC counterpart congratulated him, the party proceeded to court. On Wednesday, the three-man panel ordered the withdrawal of the certificate of return which INEC presented to Governor Yusuf and directed that a certificate of return be issued to Gawuna. The court deducted 165,663 votes from Gov Yusuf total as invalid votes, stating that the ballot papers (165,663) were not stamped or signed and therefore declared invalid.  Meanwhile, the Tribunal Judges were not physically in court. Journalists, lawyers, party members and many others were denied access into the court. Reports had it that the Secretariat had said there would be no live broadcast of the judgment and that the few journalists admitted into the court would not make use of smartphones or cameras. Top security officials had earlier said that they did not know the whereabouts of the judges and that it was possible that the proceeding would be virtual. When the proceedings commenced before 10, Justice Oluyemi Akintan-Osadebay, Chairman of the three-member panel, spoke via Zoom. It was unclear why the judges were not in court, but there have been allegations and counter allegations against the panel. It was reported that the former Commissioner of Land and Physical Planning, Adamu Kibiya, had asked the judges to choose between their lives and their work while delivering the judgement. “People voted for us and some people are attempting to do injustice. We want to tell the judges that we will not accept this. Any judge that is willing to deprive us of our rights will regret it. Whatever will happen, we won’t care…,” he had said during a protest organised by members of the ruling New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) in the state. His comment had triggered backlash, leading to Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf sacking him.