The Chief Registrar of the Court of Appeal, Umar Bangari, has cleared the air on the controversies surrounding the judgment delivered by the court on the Kano Governorship Election dispute.
The controversy had trailed the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the Court of Appeal judgment delivered on the Kano State governorship election released on Tuesday.
In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Moore Aseimo Abraham Adumein, the judge held in one of the concluding paragraphs on Page 68 that “I will conclude by stating that the live issues in this appeal are hereby resolved in favour of the 1st respondent and against the appellant.”
The appellant is Governor Yusuf, while the 1st respondent is the All-Progressives Congress (APC), with the Independent National Electoral Commission and the NNPP as 2nd and 3rd respondents respectively.
The judge further held that “In the circumstances, I resolve all the issues in favour of the appellant and against the 1st respondent.
“Therefore, I find no merit in this appeal, which is liable to be and is hereby dismissed.
The sum of N1,000,000.00 (one million naira only) is hereby awarded as costs in favour of the appellant and against the 1st respondent.”
This generated controversy among political elites and Nigerians, faulting the Court for the judgment.
Reacting to the public outrage, Bangari cited typo errors as the reason for the discrepancies in the court judgment and did not in any way invalidate or change the findings and conclusion of the court.
The chief registrar assured Nigerians that the error would be rectified once parties in the matter file a formal application to that effect.
Bangari referenced Order 23 Rule 4 of the Court of Appeal Handbook, which empowered the court to correct any clerical error once detected by the court or any of the parties, insisting that the court’s judgment remained valid contrary to public insinuations.
