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A’ Court Voids Judgement against Conduct of Kano LG Election
Alex Enumah in Abuja
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, yesterday, set aside the October 22, 2024 judgement of a Federal High Court in Kano, which stopped the conduct of last year’s Local Government Area Council election over the composition of the Kano State Independent Electoral Commission (KASIEC).
A three-member panel of the appellate nullified the trial court’s judgement on the grounds that the Federal High Court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain cases bordering on the composition of states’ electoral bodies and the qualification of members of such bodies.
The Kano State Attorney General (AG), the Kano State House of Assembly and KANSIEC had approached the appellate court to reverse the decision of the trial court, which delivered judgement in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kano State.
Justice Simon Ameboda of the Federal High Court in Kano, had on October 22, last year faulted the composition of the Kano State electoral umpire and restrained the body from proceeding with its planned LGA council election.
He had made the order while delivering judgement in the suit filed by the APC and its Kano State Chairman, Abdullahi Abbas.
The APC and Abbas had, in the suit, challenged among others, the composition of KANSIEC, claiming that the state government nominated partisan politicians and members of the New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP) as members of the electoral body.
Dissatisfied, the Kano AG, assembly and KANSIEC, prayed the appellate court to reverse the order of the trial court because it was made without jurisdiction.
Delivering ruling in the three separate appeals, the appellate court held that the case of the appellants is meritorious and subsequently allowed the appeals.
After voiding the trial court’s judgement, the appellate court went further and struck out the suits filed before the Federal High Court (from which the judgment was derived) for want of jurisdiction.
According to the appellate court, the proper court with the required jurisdiction is the High Court of Kano State.
The three appeals were: CA/KN/233/2024 by Kano State House of Assembly and another, with Aminu Aliyu Tiga and 14 others listed as respondents; CA/KN/290/2024 by Attorney General of Kano State and six others, with All Progressives Congress (APC) and three others listed as respondents, and CA/KN/291/2024 by KANSIEC and eight others, with Kano State House of Assembly and six others as respondents.
Justice Abubakar Mahmud Talba prepared and ready the lead judgement in the appeal marked: CA/KN/290/2024 and found that Justice Simon Ameboda erred when he assumed jurisdiction over the suit by the APC and its Kano State Chairman, Abdullahi Abbas.
The APC and Abbas had, in the suit, challenged among others, the composition of KANSIEC, claiming that the state government nominated partisan politicians and members of the NNPP as members of the electoral body.
Justice Talba found that the primary claims of the plaintiffs at the Federal High Court, which related to the composition of KANSIEC and the qualification of the members appointed, were outside the jurisdictional competence of the Federal High Court.
The judge also found the Federal High Court lacked the jurisdiction to interpret Section 4 of the KANSIEC Law 2001 as it did, noting that the plaintiffs ought to have gone before the High Court of Kano State, which has jurisdiction over their claim.
Justice Georgewill prepared and ready the lead judgements in the other two appeals which were on the same October 22 judgment by Justice Ameboda – CA/KN/291/2024 and CA/KN/233/2024.
The judge made similar findings as Justice Talba and made the same orders in relation to the judgment and the original suit filed before the Federal High Court in Kano.
In the fourth judgement delivered on Friday, the Court of Appeal also reversed another judgement delivered on October 24, 2024 by Justice Amobeda, in which he, among others, rejected the list of candidates submitted to KANSIEC by the Musa Kwakwanso faction of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) for the last local government election in Kano State.
Justice Oyejoju Oyebiola Oyewumi, who prepared and read the lead judgement in the appeal marked: CA/KN/20/2025, held that the subject matter of the case related to the leadership dispute in NNPP and which list of candidates submitted by two factions of the party was authentic, which are outside the jurisdiction of the court.
She found that the dispute which informed the suit filed at the Federal High Court in Kano arose from the leadership dispute in the NNPP, which resulted in the production of two candidates list for the LG election.
The judge noted that the principal claim in the suit at the Federal High Court was for the court to validate the list of candidates produced by the plaintiffs as the authentic list, a decision she said the court lacks the jurisdiction to make.
She held that no court has the power to compel an electoral body to accept the candidates list of a faction of a party against that of the other
Justice Oyewumi held that the subject of the case was an internal/domestic party dispute of the NNPP over which the court lacked jurisdiction.
She noted that there was no way the court could determine the authentic list without delving into the issue of the leadership of the party, an exercise over which the court lacked jurisdictional competence
Justice Oyewumi said political parties should be able to resolve their internal disputes by resorting to existing dispute resolution mechanisms in their constitution, adding that the issue of party leadership was not justiciable.
