Appeal Court suspends execution of judgement, LP Candidates Alex Otti

A stay of execution has been issued by the Court of Appeal in Kano regarding the recent judgement that was made by Justice M.N. Yunusa of the Federal High Court in Kano that removed Alex Otti and other Labour Party candidates from their positions as candidates for governor of Abia State.

According to what was reported, the judge ruled that any votes cast for candidates affiliated with the Labour Party (LP) in the states of Kano, Abia, and any other state were invalid votes.

Read Also: Fani-Kayode accuses Atiku of perverting justice in his disqualification suit.

The execution was halted because of an application that was submitted by Dr. Alex Otti, who will be the next governor of Abia State. Otti’s legal team submitted a motion requesting that he be considered an interested party in the case and that the judgement from the lower court be stayed until a decision can be made on the matter.

Otti was successful in having his request heard by the Appeal Court, which has resulted in the judgement from the lower court being stayed.

It is important to note that after the judgement of the lower court, Umeh Kalu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), representing the Labour Party, filed a subsequent appeal. This is something that should be taken into consideration. Kalu argued vehemently that the judgement handed down by the lower court should be overturned.

Kalu contended that the lower court had erred in its interpretation of the law and led to a miscarriage of justice when it entertained a lawsuit that was devoid of any basis in the law.

Ibrahim Haruna Ibrahim was the first person to file the lawsuit, in which he requested that the votes cast for the LP candidates in the 2023 election be overturned and invalidated. Ibrahim also instructed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to award the first runner-up in all constituencies that were won by LP candidates, and he requested that the high court invalidate the Certificates of Return that were issued to the LP candidates.

In his ruling, Justice M.N. Yunusa declared that all votes cast for the LP were “wasted votes” because the party failed to provide INEC with a copy of its membership register within the 30-day window that was required prior to the party’s primaries.

Read Also: Fani-Kayode accuses Atiku of perverting justice in his disqualification suit.

The judge who presided over the case at the trial, however, did not address the issue of the issuance of the Certificate of Return. Instead, he stated that “the parties that participated in Abia state are not parties before this court.”