Kano guber: Errors occur in CTCs… judgment read in court is most important, says APC

The All Progressives Congress (APC) says the certified true copy (CTC) of the court of appeal judgement affirming the election of Abba Yusuf as governor of Kano is an error. 

On Friday, the court of appeal sitting in Abuja affirmed the verdict of the Kano state governorship election petition tribunal that sacked Yusuf as governor.

The tribunal had declared Nasiru Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the duly elected governor of the state.

However, there was confusion on Tuesday when a certified true copy of the appeal court judgement surfaced, contradicting the November 17 ruling.

Haruna Isa-Dederi, Kano attorney-general and commissioner for justice, argued that the CTC of the judgement showed that Yusuf’s victory at the poll was affirmed by the appeal court.

“The evidence contained on page 67 of the the copy of the appeal court judgment released on Tuesday and signed by registrar, Jameel Ibrahim Umar, appellate court upheld the victory of Abba Kabiru Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party  as duly elected Governor of Kano,” Isa-Dederi said.

Speaking with journalists on Wednesday at the APC secretariat in Abuja, Abdulkarim Kana, APC national legal adviser, described the development as a typographical error that would be corrected by the court.

“We woke up this morning and we are confronted with media reports from different news outlets mostly print media,” he said.

“And a few social media posts where the controversy was identified in the released CTC true copy of the judgement of the court of appeal that was delivered on Nov. 17, 2023, here in Abuja.

“However, those of us who are lawyers know that typographic errors often occur in certified true copy of court judgments.

“Ordinarily it wouldn’t have been a confusion if it was probably not a political matter because it will not be the first time such typographic mistakes will be seen in judgments.

“And being lawyers, we have been used to a situation like this; all that is done is to merely correct that mistake. The most important thing is a judgment that was read in open court.”

He added that such typographical error was not new within the court system.

He noted that reading through the entirety of the judgement and submissions of different cited cases, one could get an idea of what should be the conclusion of the court’s verdict.

Kanna assured that the party would formally request for the CTC of the judgement.

“But we will write and get a copy. If the copy that will be conveyed to us still contains this error, we will take steps eventually,” Karna said.

“What we will do and we have done right now, is to write to demand for the CTC. Until the CTC containing that error, which is being bandied around, we will now know what to do next.

“But, I will suggest that whoever may have received the CTC containing that error, if he was an appropriate person and entitled to a copy would have taken the necessary steps.

“I will say that the court should have taken the necessary steps to make corrections.”