The dust raised by the contradictions contained in the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the Court of Appeal judgment in the Kano State governorship election has yet to settle as Wole Olanipekun, SAN, counsel to the Kano State governor, Kabir Yusuf, has insisted that the appellate court cannot correct what it claims to be mere clerical errors, contrary to the court’s position.
Confusion had struck the judgment of the court which sacked the state governor, Abba Yusuf, following the discrepancies between what was read out in the open court and the contents of the CTC of the judgment.
The Chief Registrar of the Appeal Court, Umar Bangari, said on Wednesday that the mix-up in the CTC was a clerical error.
He, however, noted that Order 23 Rule 4 of the Court of Appeal Handbook empowers the court to correct any clerical error once detected by the court or any of the parties in the matter.
Reacting to a letter by the Deputy Chief Registrar addressed to his chambers, Olanipekun said only the apex court can hear any application for correction of errors.
It partly read, “Function of the Court: Assuming without conceding that the judgment has some errors, whether typographical or otherwise, we humbly and dutifully draw your attention to the fact that the Court of Appeal became functus officio in the matter on Saturday, November 18, 2023.
“Any application for correction of errors can only be entertained by the Supreme Court. Section 285(7) of the Constitution earlier referred to becomes very handy and imperative to the effect that the Court of Appeal cannot take any further step in the appeal or subject after the expiration of 60 days.
“We are not aware that any of the parties have applied to correct any error. Even at that, judicial precedents are countless as to the procedure to follow and which court has jurisdiction to take such an application after the expiration of the 60 days mandatorily benchmarked by the Constitution.”
