TheCable

The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has asked the National Judicial Council (NJC) to probe the court of appeal over the discrepancies in the certified true copy (CTC) of judgment of the Kano governorship election dispute.

On Friday, the appellate court in Abuja affirmed the verdict of the Kano state governorship election petition tribunal which sacked Abba Yusuf, candidate of the NNPP, as the governor.

However, the certified true copy of the judgment appeared to be contradictory to affirming and sacking the governor at the same time.

Addressing the situation, Umar Bangari, chief registrar of the court of appeal, said the purported discrepancy was a clerical error that did not affect the court’s decision.

Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, Dipo Olayoku, national secretary of the NNPP,  described the judgment of the appeal court on the Kano election as a “riddle”.

Olayoku added that the discrepancies cannot be said to be a “slip up”.

Olayoku alleged that the discrepancies in the CTC and the court verdict indicate that the judges changed the judgment after they had deliberated on the case.

“We are calling on the National Judicial Council (NJC) to without delay commence an investigation to unravel what happened in the matter,” he said.

“Also, we are calling on eminent members of the bench – both retired and serving– and the bar to be interested in what happened that we have the kind of scenario presented in the CTC of the judgment of the appeal court.

“In addition, we call on leaders, elders, and other major stakeholders in the Nigerian project, including the media, to step into this matter to avert the danger this type of signal from the judiciary portends for our democracy in particular and our country in general.

“From the scenario presented in this judgment, it is crystal clear that something is wrong somewhere and the onus lies on us as Nigerians to unearth the riddle.”