Sacking of Governor Yusuf: Full List of Controversial Court Judgements on 2023 Elections
The court should be the last resort of the common man, but some decisions of the judiciary have shocked Nigerians, particularly in the political realm.
Legit.ng journalist Bada Yusuf is an accomplished politics and current affairs editor, boasting over seven years of experience in journalism and writing.
As the year 2023 approached its end, some court judgments came as a shock to many Nigerians.
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Some of them are listed below:
Ahmed Lawan vs Machina
Ahmed Lawan, the former senate president, did not contest the Yobe North senatorial district primary but was declared the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate at the Supreme Court.
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Bashir Machina, the primary winner, had to defend his mandate at the federal high court in Abuja, where he was declared the authentic poll winner.
Lawan, who has been in the national assembly since 1999, had contested the APC presidential primary at the time of the Yobe North senatorial primary, which he lost to President Bola Tinubu.
However, APC in Yobe and Lawan pursued the case to the Supreme Court, where he was declared the winner of candidate of the party in the 2023 senatorial election.
The emergence of Lawan in the 10th senate was criticised by Justice Dattijo Muhammad of the supreme court on his valedictory day.
The sacking of Kano Governor
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Another striking court judgment that shook Nigerians was the sacking of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf by the Kano state governorship election petition tribunal and the Court of Appeal.
The tribunal sacked Governor Yusuf after the trial court deducted 165,663 votes of the total votes that made the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declare him as the winner of the March 18 governorship election in Kano.
The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) candidate votes that were deducted were adjudged invalid because they were neither signed nor stamped by INEC.
Nasir Yusuf Gawuna, the candidate of the APC in the election, was then declared the poll winner. At the same time, INEC was ordered to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Yusuf, and another one should be given to Gawuna.
At the Court of Appeal, Governor Yusuf was sacked because he was not a member of the NNPP at the time of the election. Thus, the court found no reason to hear the anomalies in the election since he was not a member of the NNPP.
However, the emergence of the certified true copy of the judgment showed that Governor Yusuf's victory was affirmed before the court clarified the situation.
This development led to controversies on the sincerity of the court on the matter, with many pundits calling for the will of the people to be respected.
Ismail Balogun, a legal practitioner, who spoke with Legit.ng, posited that the governor may still be sacked by the Supreme Court, adding that the apex court rarely overturns concurring judgment.
He said:
"In my mind, the probability of success at the Supreme Court is shrouded in the web of uncertainty. This is because he is now dealing with two concurring judgments of the lower Courts, and the Supreme Court rarely overturns concurring judgments unless the same is perverse or there was a miscarriage of justice."
The sacking of Governor Mutfwang, PDP federal and state lawmakers in Plateau state
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Another landmark judgment in 2023 was the sacking of Governor Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau state by the Court of Appeal on the grounds that he was not properly nominated by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The Plateau state governorship election petition earlier upheld Governor Mutfwang's victory.
Also, both the tribunal and the Court of Appeal sacked all the federal and state lawmakers elected on the platform of the PDP from Plateau state for the same reason Governor Mutfwang was sacked.
While many have argued that the case was a pre-election matter and party affairs, Justice Abdulaziz Waziri of the Court of Appeal, who said he was a member of the panel that decided one of the cases, said it could be pre and post-election case, depending on the situation on the ground.
His statement reads in part:
“Some people may say it was a pre-election, agreed. On qualification issues, elections can be pre- and post-election matters depending on what you may understand as qualification. The issue in Plateau State is not a pre-election matter per se.”
Tinubu writes to senate to confirm 11 nominees as Supreme Court justices
Legit.ng earlier reported that President Bola Tinubu asked the senate to consider and confirm 11 nominees as the justices of the Supreme Court.
The president's list cut across the country's six regions, with South-East and North Central having three nominees each, while South-West and North-West have one nominee each.
If the list is confirmed, this will become the first time in the history of Nigeria that the Supreme Court justices will complete 21 as stipulated by the law.
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Source: Legit.ng
