By Ayo Yusuf
The wordings of yesterday’s Kaduna tribunal judgment which declared that governor Uba Sani would have been sacked and his election declared inconclusive if his opponent, Hon. Isah Asiru, had not filed his petition out of time, caused some confusion as many media houses reported that the governor had been removed.
The tribunal’s 2-1 majority ruling declared that if the petition were not dismissed for lacking merit because the notice was filed out of time, it would have ordered a supplementary election in 22 polling units within 90 days.
However, owing to this framing of the ruling, each party thought it had won, leading to initial media reports that the tribunal had unseated the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate.
Both Governor Sani and Hön Ashiru of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, have since responded to the judgment.
Governor Sani said as far as he was concerned there was no confusion about Thursday’s tribunal judgment dismissing the PDP candidate’s petition against his victory.
“I think there’s no confusion there. Like I said, for some of us who were involved in the draft of the Electoral Act, there’s nothing like confusion there,” he said on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
“The case was dismissed because it lacked merit. The preliminary objection to the application was made out of time. And of course, if you look at the Electoral Act, that alone has made their case abandoned. That is on the point of law. There are a lot of cases like that.”
The governor argued that a party could either win the political battle “or you win a propaganda battle”.
He alleged that the PDP “misinformed and misled some very important media houses about the judgement and I became extremely disappointed in them”.
Governor Sani frowned on the rush of “reputable media houses” to the press without waiting for the final ruling, describing it as “really unfortunate”.
Calling for caution, the 52-year-old noted that the fight for freedom of expression via social media should not be undermined as he expressed the belief that people should be allowed to express themselves.
“At the end of the day, for me, what is more important is that the ruling has been made, the case has been dismissed and there is nothing anybody can do because it is on the point of law,” he stated.
“What the judges said is clear. There was a Supreme Court ruling already that judges are allowed to read all the applications by the opposing party. But in any case, that does not stop the case from being dismissed if there is anything that warrants that.
And that’s what they do. They dismissed the case on the basis of the fact that they abandoned their own case.”
Governor Uba Sani said the tribunal headed by Justice Victor Oviawie dismissed the petition of the PDP candidate on the ground that the pre-hearing notice was filed out of time and therefore deemed to be abandoned.
In the wake of the judgment, Sani, whom the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared as the winner of the exercise, hailed the court for dismissing PDP’s petition.
“I was happy after the NEC meeting when I heard the news that the tribunal dismissed the PDP’s application against the election. Of course, I was not surprised because, throughout the tribunal sitting our lawyers were briefing me about what was happening,” he said.
According to “Mr Ashiru and the PDP members in Kaduna State should cmoonto come and join hands with me. What is more important is moving our state forward. Like I said on the 29th of May when I was sworn in, the issue of politics is about governance and we have tried as much as possible to carry all along.
But in a statement on his verified Facebook account, Ashiru rejected the judgment and vowed to appeal.
“First, I give glory to God Almighty for the progress made so far in our effort to reclaim the mandate given to us by the good people of Kaduna State. I also thank the people of the state for widely believing in me and the PDP,” the PDP candidate wrote.
“Also, given the ruling of the Kaduna state election tribunal, it has become necessary to share with our teaming supporters the true position of the ruling.
“The tribunal by a split decision of 2:1 accordingly, nullified the election of the governor of Kaduna state, ordered that the Certificate of Return be retrieved and fresh elections be conducted in some polling units in 4 LGAs and the outcome thereof be reckoned with before the declaration of the winner of the governorship election in Kaduna state,” Ashiru said.
“I want to again thank the people of the state while urging them all to remain law abiding while we pursue the appeal process.
“One thing I can assure the good people of Kaduna state is that I will pursue this mandate you freely gave me to its logical conclusion and by the grace of God, victory on our side.”
