Alh. Ibrahim Yarima Abdullahi V. Alh. Abubakar Habu Hashidu & Ors (1999)

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PATS-ACHOLONU, J.C.A. 

The appellant and the 1st respondent contested the gubernatorial election of Gombe State on 9/1/99. They contested the election under the banners of their parties PDP and APP respectively. The 1st respondent was declared the winner of the election whereupon the appellant challenged the returning of the 1st respondent in an election petition.

There are two main planks to his case:

(1) That the 1st respondent who was declared successful in the election was not duly qualified.

(2) That he did not win by a majority of the lawful votes cast.

After carefully examining the matter the Election Tribunal decided that it was not competent to inquire into the qualification of the 1st respondent in that it is the preserve of INEC. And it equally held that the 1st respondent was elected by a majority of the lawful votes cast.

The appellant thereupon lodged an appeal of 5 grounds and most inelegantly formulated 6 issues from the grounds of appeal. I must observe in passing that in drafting briefs there are three determinants for a good brief and they are:

(a) brevity

(b) accuracy

(c) clarity

It is therefore highly irregular to make the number of issues more than the grounds of appeal from which they are distilled. The corner stone of this case rests apriori on;

(a) the competence of the tribunal to inquire into the qualification or otherwise of contestant after he has been screened and cleared by INEC;

whether the document admitted as Exhibit M2 and titled “Views of the Federal Government on the Report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Kafin Zaki Dam and Kawali Diversion Structure”, is an authentic document expressing the view and acceptance of the report of inquiry into this matter.

Issue No. 1