Kaduna election: Uba Sani urges Tribunal to dismiss PDP petition

<p>Kaduna State governor Uba Sani has moved to terminate the petition of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Mohammed Ashiru Isa, against his election.</p>, <p>The Tribunal, last week Monday, set aside today, 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.</p>, <p>The principle of stare decisis, a Latin term that means “let the decision stand” or “to stand by things decided” makes it compelling for lower courts to line behind decisions of superior courts.</p>, <p>To this end, the decisions of the two appellate courts; Court of Appeal and Supreme Court, are binding on election petition tribunals, where facts in cases are similar.</p>, <p>Sani is calling for an end to the last petition standing against his victory, by pointing to the July 18, 2023 judgement of the Court of Appeal in the case of the All Progressives Congress, 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.</p>, <p>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.</p>, <p>The unanimous judgement of the three-man 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.</p>, <p>All three justices held the petition had become abandoned by the reason of the late filing of the said Notice, adding that Justice K.M Akano-led Enugu Governorship Tribunal was right under the law, to dismiss the petition in course of proceedings.</p>, <p>Oyewole in his lead judgement held that, “as found by the trial Tribunal, t