Tribunal delivers judgment on Kano governorship poll via zoom
The Kano State governorship election tribunal is poised to deliver judgement on the case filed by the All Progressive Congress (APC) and its candidate, Yusuf Ganuwa, to overturn the victory of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP).
However, in what is no doubt a novel development, the three-member panel of judges are not physically present in the courtroom.
They opted to deliver the judgment via Zoom.
Journalists, lawyers, party members, and many others were denied access to the court.
When the proceedings commenced before 10 am, Justice Oluyemi Akintan-Osadebay, chairman of the three-member panel, spoke via Zoom.
No reason was given for the development.
This is the first time an election tribunal is delivering judgement via Zoom in Nigeria.
Recall that TheNiche reported on Tuesday that the Kano State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal will deliver judgement in the petition of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Nasiru Gawuna against the declaration of Abba Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) as winner of the March 18 election.
Videos on social media have shown massive security deployment in the state ahead of the judgement.
Analysts say the gladiators, Yusuf and Gawuna, are proxies in the superiority battle of two former governors of the state – Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and Abdullahi Ganduje.
Ganduje and Kwankwaso have been locked in hostile political rivalry with both men trying to reclaim control of the state through proxies.
Last week, the Kano government organized prayer ahead of the judgement. It was attended by large supporters of the NNPP, including Kwankwaso.
At the prayer ground, two officials of the Kano State government threaten judges who may deliver unfavourable verdict to ‘choose between their lives and bribe money.’ The state government has suspended the officials.
The case
The APC is asking the tribunal to nullify the victory of Yusuf on grounds that the election was conducted in violation of the Electoral Act 2022.
At the hearing of the petition, the APC, through its lawyer, Abdul Fagge, called 32 witnesses and tendered a series of documents including a report of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines deployed in all polling units for the conduct of the poll in the state.
The petitioner also tendered used Forms EC8A, the polling unit result sheets, and Form EC40G, the overall result sheet containing the final tallies, and other electoral documents obtained from INEC.
The APC lawyer also tendered over 270,000 ballot papers thumbprinted in favour of the NNPP. He argued that the ballot papers were certified by INEC but were neither signed, stamped nor dated, and were therefore invalid.
The NNPP lead counsel, Bashir Tudun-Wuzirchi, urged the tribunal to dismiss the APC’s petition for being an academic exercise and a waste of time and energy.
He anchored his client’s prayers among other grounds that the non-joining of the party’s governorship candidate, Mr Gawuna, as a pettioner, was fatal to the case.
He said all the allegations levelled by the petitioner were unproven and not correct.
Contrary to the petitioner’s claim, Mr Tudun-Wuzirchi argued that the name of the governor was in the register as provided by the law.
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