The Chief Registrar of the Court of Appeal, Umar Bangari, on Wednesday, said there was no contradiction in the court’s judgement on the Kano State governorship election.
This is as Kano State Governor, Mallam Abba Yusuf headed to the Supreme Court to contest the judgement of the Court of Appeal sacking him from office.
There had been several interpretations of the judgement following a discrepancy between what was read out in the open court and the contents of the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the ruling.
At the open court, the three-member panel, led by Justice Moore Adumein upheld the judgement of the state Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which sacked Yusuf of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP).
However, in the concluding part of the CTC, it read that the issue was resolved against the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate.
During a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, NNPP accused the Court of Appeal of changing the judgement after the judges had concluded deliberations on the matter.
However, reacting to the controversies, Bangari said what happened in the judgement’s CTC was a clerical error.
He noted that that did not in any way invalidate or change the findings and conclusion of the court on the matter.
The statement partly read: “What happened in the part of the judgement is just a mere clerical error that ought not to draw any issue. The court is empowered to correct such clerical errors and would be done as appropriate.
“The clerical error would be rectified once parties in the matter file formal application to that effect”.
He drew the attention of newsmen to Order 23 Rule 4 of the Court of Appeal Handbook which empowers the court to correct any clerical error once detected by the court or any of the parties in the matter.
He, however, insisted that contrary to insinuations, the judgement of the court remains valid.
Last Friday, the Appeal Court nullified Yusuf’s election, over ineligibility to contest while declaring the APC candidate, APC, Malam Nasiru Gawuna, winner of the governorship election in the state.
