Wole Olanipekun (SAN), the attorney for the New Nigeria Peoples Party’s Kano State chapter, has stated that the Court of Appeal was not authorized to alter the Certified True Copies of its ruling.
Due to differences between the judgment’s CTC and what was read aloud in open court, confusion surrounded the court’s ruling that dismissed Abba Yusuf as state governor.
The confusion in the CTC was a clerical error, according to Umar Bangari, Chief Registrar of the Appeal Court, who made this statement on Wednesday.
Nonetheless, he pointed out that the Court of Appeal Handbook’s Order 23 Rule 4 gives the court the authority to fix any typing error that is discovered by the court or any of the parties involved.
Olanipekun responded to a letter sent to his chambers by the Deputy Chief Registrar by stating that any application for error correction can only be heard by the supreme court.
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.”
