A coalition of five civil society organisations has asked the National Judicial Council, NJC, to investigate the controversial judgement of the Court of Appeal in the Kano gubernatorial election tussle.
The coalition, under the aegis of Open Justice Alliance, OJA, in a petition addressed to the Chairman of NJC titled: “Judicial Recklessness and Gross Abuse of the Revised Judicial Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 2016 By Honourable Moore Aseimo Abraham Adumein, BIitrus Gyarazama Sanga, and Lateef Adebayo Ganiyu, JJCA,” said the contradictory verdict “portends great danger for the political stability of Kano State.
The group also accused the judges of violating the Revised Judicial Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 2016.
According to the petition, dated November 23 and signed by Oluwaseyi Arowosede, the groups also urged the council to take particular note of page 67 of the judgement and immediately cause an investigation.
“My Lord, if there is ever a term like judicial summersault in the dictionary of the Nigerian Judiciary, then the above holding of the learned Justices of the Court of Appeal, with respect, aptly exemplifies the same.
“Your Lordship would note from the quoted judgement of the learned Justices that whereas the first sentence has purported to resolve the live issues in the appeal in favour of the 1st Respondent and against the Appellant, the second sentence strangely purports to “resolve all the issues in favour of the Appellant and against the 1st Respondent”.
“As if the above inconsistency was not enough, your Lordship would note further from the third sentence of the quoted judgment that whereas the learned Justices had purportedly found no merit in the appeal brought by the Appellant and had therefore, dismissed same which in effect means that the judgment of the Election Petition Tribunal was upheld, the same Justices in the fourth and fifth sentences of the quoted paragraph of their judgment have strangely set aside ‘the judgment of the tribunal in ‘Petition No.: EPT/KN/GOV/01/2023 between: ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS (APC) v. NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION & 2 ORS delivered on the 20th day of September, 2023 … ‘ and even awarded ‘the sum of N1,000,000.00 (one million naira only) … as costs in favour of the Appellant and against the 1st Respondent,” he said.
“Respectfully, sir, the questions that beg for answers are: Against and/ or in favour of which of the parties did the learned Justices of the Court of Appeal resolved the issues adopted for the resolution of the appeal?
“If the learned Justices have dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit as purported by them in the third sentence, why did they at the same time set aside the judgement of the Tribunal and even awarded cost in favour of the Appellant and against the 1st Respondent?
“If the appellant’s election was nullified inter alia for non-qualification, why did the learned justices fail to”… declare the person with the second highest number of valid votes cast at the election who satisfies the requirements of the Constitution and this Act as duly elected” and therefore direct the Independent National Electoral Commission to withdraw the Certificate of Return issued to the appellant and to issue a new Certificate of Return to the candidate of the 1st respondent in line with Section 136[2] of the Electoral Act, 2022? he inquired.”
They claimed that the conduct of the learned jurist “has not only put a strain in the already wane confidence that the masses have in the judiciary but has brought disrepute and opprobrium to the Nigerian judiciary”.
“Your Lordship, a certain level of due diligence is expected from judges, and much more is expected from Justices of the Court Appeal. The conduct of the aforementioned justices has fallen below the required threshold.
“In the light of the foregoing, therefore, we humbly urge your Lordship to cause an immediate investigation into the circumstances surrounding the judgement of the learned justices concerned and to discipline the justices in accordance with the law if found culpable,” the petition pleaded
