The Court of Appeal has overturned the October 22, 2024 judgment of the Federal High Court in Kano, which nullified the composition of the Kano State Independent Electoral Commission (KANSIEC) and voided the local government elections held on October 26, 2024.
Delivering three unanimous judgments on Friday, a three-member panel led by Justice Biobele Abraham Georgewill ruled that the Federal High Court lacked jurisdiction to adjudicate matters concerning the composition of state electoral commissions and the qualifications of their members.
The appellate court allowed the appeals filed by the Attorney General of Kano State, the Kano State House of Assembly, and KANSIEC, striking out the initial suits filed at the Federal High Court for want of jurisdiction. The court clarified that such matters fall under the jurisdiction of the High Court of Kano State.
The appeals determined were:
CA/KN/233/2024 filed by the Kano State House of Assembly, with Aminu Aliyu Tiga and 14 others as respondents.
CA/KN/290/2024 filed by the Attorney General of Kano State and six others, with the All Progressives Congress APC and three others as respondents.
CA/KN/291/2024 filed by KANSIEC and eight others, with the Kano State House of Assembly and six others as respondents.
In the lead judgment for CA/KN/290/2024, Justice Abubakar Mahmud Talba held that Justice Simon Amobeda of the Federal High Court erred by assuming jurisdiction in the case brought by the APC and its Kano State Chairman, Abdullahi Abbas. The suit had challenged the composition of KANSIEC, alleging the appointment of partisan individuals affiliated with the New Nigeria Peoples Party NNPP.
Justice Talba ruled that the claims, which focused on the legality of KANSIEC’s composition and the qualifications of its members, were outside the constitutional purview of the Federal High Court and should have been instituted before the High Court of Kano State. He also concluded that the interpretation of Section 4 of the KANSIEC Law 2001 by the lower court was done in error.
Justice Georgewill, who delivered the lead judgments in CA/KN/291/2024 and CA/KN/233/2024, made similar findings and upheld the same orders as Justice Talba.
In a related judgment also delivered on Friday, the Court of Appeal reversed another ruling made by Justice Amobeda on October 24, 2024. That ruling had rejected a list of candidates submitted to KANSIEC by the Musa Kwankwaso faction of the NNPP for the October local government polls.
In the lead judgment for CA/KN/20/2025, Justice Oyejoju Oyebiola Oyewumi held that the Federal High Court lacked jurisdiction to determine the authenticity of candidate lists submitted by rival factions of a political party, noting that such disputes stem from internal party leadership issues.
She stated, “There is no way the court can determine the authentic list without delving into the issue of the leadership of the party,” a matter she stressed is not justiciable before a regular court. She emphasized that political parties must resolve their internal leadership disputes using mechanisms outlined in their constitutions.
Justice Oyewumi affirmed that no court has the authority to compel an electoral body to recognize the candidate list of one faction over another, describing the issue as an internal matter over which the judiciary lacks competence.
The Court of Appeal’s decisions are expected to have significant implications for electoral jurisprudence in Nigeria, reinforcing the limitations of federal judicial intervention in state electoral affairs and internal party disputes.
