Governor Uba Sani moves to terminate the petition of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Mohammed Isah Ashiru, against his election as the Kaduna Governorship Petition Tribunal resumes sitting today.
The tribunal had last week set aside Monday to hear the latest motion by the governor’s legal team led by former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Bayo Ojo (SAN), to end proceedings in the petition based on the latest pronouncement of the Court of Appeal.
The principle of stare decisis, a Latin term that means “to stand by things decided ” makes it compelling for lower courts to line behind decisions of superior courts. To this end, decisions of the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court, are binding on election petition tribunals, where facts in cases are similar.
Sani is calling for an end to the petition against his victory, by pointing to the July 18, 2023 judgment of the Court of Appeal in the case of the All Progressives Congress (APC), against Enugu state governor, Peter Mbah, knocked off at the preliminary stage due to a fatal error by the petitioners in applying for the crucial pre-hearing notice.
The Supreme Court had held in many instances that either premature or late filing of the all-important notice would deem the petition abandoned and terminable.
The unanimous judgment of the three-man Enugu state panel headed by Justice Olubunmi Oyewole held that the appeal brought by APC’s Uche Nnaji against the dismissal of his petition at the preliminary stage wasn’t meritorious because the filing of the pre-hearing notice out of time, had dealt the entire petition a fatal blow.
