The Court of Appeal has admitted clerical errors in the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the Kano governorship judgment that sparked controversy on social media.
CTC.The Appeal Court also maintained that its decision to sack the governor of Kano, Abba Kabir Yusuf, is valid, despite the discrepancies in the CTC of the judgement.
The governor, who is the appellant in the case, challenged the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the 1st respondent, in the 2023 governorship election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the NNPP are the 2nd and 3rd respondents respectively.
The judge upheld the appeal of the governor and ordered the APC to pay him N1,000,000.00 (one million naira only) as costs.
The judge said: “In the circumstances, I resolve all the issues in favour of the appellant and against the 1st respondent… 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.”
However, the CTC of the judgment contained some contradictory statements that cast doubt on the validity of the verdict.
The Chief Registrar of the Court of Appeal, Umar Mohammed Bangari, issued a statement last night, admitting that the errors were clerical and did not affect the findings and conclusion of the court.
He stated that the errors were minor and could be corrected by the court upon the application of the parties involved. He cited Order 23 Rule 4 of the Court of Appeal Hand Book, which gives the court the power to correct any clerical error detected by the court or any of the parties in the matter.
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He stressed that the judgment of the court was still valid and dismissed any insinuation to the contrary.
He said: “What happened in the part of the judgment is just a mere clerical error that ought not to draw any issue. The Court is empowered to correct such clerical error and would be done as appropriate.”
Meanwhile, a member of the legal team of Governor Yusuf told Daily Trust that they received a request from the Appeal Court to return the CTC of the judgment earlier given to them but that they ignored the request.