The supreme court has reserved judgment in the Kano governorship election dispute between Abba Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and Nasiru Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
On Thursday, a five-member panel of the apex court led by Inyang Okoro, reserved judgment after all parties adopted their briefs of argument.
At the commencement of hearing, Okoro announced that there are nine pending appeals before the panel.
The court therefore urged lawyers involved in the matter to meet and agree on one out of the nine appeals and cross appeals that would be binding on the others.
The court proceeded for a brief recess to allow the parties reach a common ground on the subject.
When the panel resumed, a consensus was reached and the main appeal marked SC/CV/1179 was selected.
In his argument, Abubakar Mahmoud, counsel to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) asked the court to disregard the key witness whose testimony was used to deduct 165,616 Yusuf votes.
He said the testimony should be inadmissible having not been front loaded along with the main petition at the tribunal.
INEC’s counsel informed the apex court that the said contested 165,616 ballot papers were authentic and originated from INEC and not elsewhere.
He said it is not the duty of a voter on the day of election to check if a ballot paper is signed or stamped and without date of election, adding that it is the task of a party agent.
Mahmoud further informed the apex court panel that the recounting of votes was done privately at the tribunal chambers after the deduction of the contested 165,616 votes.
He added that even when they were brought to the court of appeal, they were not demonstrated.
On Yusuf’s membership of the NNPP, he stated that it is an internal affair of the political party concerned and not for an external body, citing previous decisions of the apex court.
He therefore added that it is not a constitutional matter as being claimed by the APC, which relies on Section 177(c) of the Constitution, as amended, and Section 77 of the Electoral Act.
He informed the court that the NNPP submitted the name of Abba Yusuf as its candidate for the governorship election, and that if the APC had anything against Yusuf’s candidacy, it should have done so after INEC published the names of candidates.