Femi Falana, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has faulted
the judgement of the Kano state election petitions tribunal.
On September 20, the tribunal sacked Abba Yusuf, candidate
of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), as governor of the state.
The panel also ordered the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Yusuf.
The panel affirmed Yusuf Gawuna of the All Progressives
Congress (APC) as the duly elected governor of Kano.
Yusuf polled 1,019,602 votes to defeat his close rival,
Gawuna, who got 890,705 votes in the March 11 governorship election.
Not satisfied with the outcome of the poll, Gawuna and his
party filed a petition challenging Yusuf’s victory.
While delivering judgement, the tribunal deducted 165,663
from the votes recorded for the NNPP candidate on the grounds that the ballot
papers were not signed, stamped and dated by INEC as required by the law.
Speaking during an interview on Friday on Channels Television,
Falana said judges cannot punish voters because of errors committed by INEC
officials.
“We are asking our judges to embrace justice, substantial
justice, in a way that you cannot punish voters for the errors of INEC,” Falana
said.
“And I think that was what recently happened in Kano where
165,000 votes were said to have been annulled because they were not marked by
INEC officials.
“What is my business as a voter is to go to the polling
unit, collect the ballot paper, vote and throw it into the ballot box. How will
I know it is marked by INEC or not.
“The courts are not
empowered to punish voters because of the negligence of INEC officials.
“And it is so stated in the law that once the results have
been counted, once the results have been declared, you cannot annul, you cannot
challenge the validity of the ballot papers.
“I think these are the areas that our judges will have to go
back to the drawing table and ensure that substantial justice is given to
petitioners and respondents.
“But what is important is let us conduct good elections.”
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