The New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP) has highlighted that the discrepancy in the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the Appeal Court ruling in Kano State governorship election dispute goes beyond a clerical error.
The party, arguing that words in the CTC cannot be recalled for correction, urged the National Judicial Council (NJC) and other stakeholders in the judiciary to address the inability to recall words in the CTC for correction.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, the party’s National Secretary, Dipo Olayoku, said: “If at the point of delivering the judgement, there was a pronouncement that our Appeal failed but the CTC of the same judgement in its conclusive findings actually resolved all the issues in our favour, and even awarded costs in our favour against the APC, this is definitely is a riddle.
“This is not just a mistake that can merely be “corrected” by the Court of Appeal as it does not fall within the ambit of the “Slip Rule” where a Court can recall the document and correct an error.
“Such errors must be so obvious that their correction cannot generate any controversy, regarding the Judgment or decision of the Court. By the same token, such errors must be of such nature that their correction would not change the substance of the Judgment or alter the clear intention of the Court.
“It is clear to us that the only conclusion that can be drawn from this judicial debacle is that the average reasonable person can only conclude that the Court of Appeal changed the judgement after they had concluded deliberations on the matter, and then mistakenly left the original conclusion during the cutting and pasting process.”
The party, however, vowed to seek redress at the Supreme Court for all issues, including alleged CTC inconsistencies.
