THE Supreme Court has reserved judgment in the appeal over the Kano State governorship election tussle.
A five-member panel of justices led by Inyang Okoro on Thursday, December 21, reserved their decision after hearing from the parties involved.
To reserve judgment in a court indicates that the case has been put on hold for a while. After all the parties had concluded their oral arguments and the court had received all of the written submissions,
A reserved judgment could be rendered in days, weeks, or even months after the hearing.
In a judgment delivered on Friday, November 17, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal upheld the tribunal’s decision to sack Yusuf.
The court held that Yusuf’s party – the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) – breached the Constitution by sponsoring Yusuf, who was not a party member.
The Appellate Court ruled that the tribunal acted in the public interest when it permitted the APC to tender papers during the trial since the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had given the APC piecemeal access to materials to undermine the petitioner’s claim.
The court further determined that the 1999 Constitution did not support Yusuf’s lawyer, Wole Olanipekun’s contention that the APC should have included its candidate Yusuf Ganuwa as a party in the tribunal proceedings because a candidate is allowed to be represented by his political party during legal procedures.
The court’s three-man bench ruled that each political party must keep track of its voter registration.
The governor of Kano state, Abba Yusuf, and the New Nigeria People Party (NNPP) filed an appeal contesting the Court of Appeal’s November 17 ruling, which voided their victory in the governorship race held on March 19.
The party also informed the Supreme Court of the inconsistencies in the CTC ruling that validated the governor’s election and granted him N1 million damages award.
At Thursday’s sitting, parties disputed the court’s jurisdiction over a candidate’s political party membership during the lengthy hearing before the Supreme Court.
The lawyers also debated whether the court should “visit the sin” of INEC’s refusal to sign more than 160,000 voter registration forms on Kano State voters.
A reporter with the ICIR
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