News
The Five Judges Who Will Be Delivering Judgment At The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal Tomorrow
The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal will rule on the lawsuits brought by five political parties—the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), Action Peoples Party (APP), Allied Peoples Movement (APM), and the Action Alliance (AA)—that contest Bola Tinubu’s declaration as the victor of the February 25, 2023, presidential election on Wednesday, September 6.
According to The Nation, Justice Haruna Tsammani is presiding over the hearing of the five-member panel of justices. In the event that there are disagreements on the points raised during the trial, the five jurors will debate and perhaps decide to reach a verdict on the day of the verdict. However, the judgement is not final because a party that is not satisfied can still appeal to the Supreme Court.
The five judges presiding over the tribunal are:
- Justice Haruna Tsammani – Chief Registrar of the Court of Appeal
- Justice Stephen Adah – Court of Appeal (Asaba division)
- Justice Monsurat Bolaji-Yusuf – Court of Appeal (Asaba Division)
- Justice Moses Ugo – Kano division
- Justice Abba Mohammed – Ibadan Court of Appeal.
Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani
He is from Bauchi State’s Tafawa Balewa LGA. Justice Haruna Tsammani was born on November 23, 1959.
The judge earned his LL.B from Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, in 1982.
He received his BL from the Nigerian Law School in Lagos in 1983 and began serving as a High Court judge in Bauchi State on September 17, 1998.
He was elevated to the Court of Appeal on July 16, 2010.
He is the longest-serving Justice of the Court of Appeal among the panel’s five members. Tsammani has spent half of his 24 years on the Court of Appeal bench, where he was elevated in July 2010.
Tsammani delivered one of the decisions from the Court of Appeal in Abuja that upheld the election of Yahaya Bello to a second term as governor of Kogi State.
Read Also: Nigeria Police Force Deploys Men Ahead Of Court Election Decision
He also read the Court of Appeal’s ruling in Abuja, which resulted in the order preventing the governments of Lagos and Rivers from pursuing their efforts to collect value-added tax (VAT).
Justice Stephen Adah
Justice Stephen Adah, the presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal’s Asaba Division, was born on June 13, 1957. He is from Kogi State’s Dekina Local Government Area.
Adah graduated with honours from Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria in 1981. In 1982, he received his BL from the Nigerian Law School in Lagos.
On November 12, 1998, he was appointed to the Federal High Court, and on November 5, 2012, he was elevated to the Court of Appeal. He was a member of the three-person tribunal that granted Obi and Atiku’s requests to serve Tinubu’s petitions through alternate ways.
On November 16, 2018, Adah gave the lead verdict in a three-person panel that upheld Joshua Dariye, a former governor of the Plateau State,’s conviction. After their conviction and imprisonment had been upheld by the Supreme Court, President Muhammadu Buhari would subsequently pardoned Dariye and a former governor of Taraba, Jolly Nyame, in a move that was roundly criticized.
Justice Mistura Bolaji-Yusuf
Justice Misitura Bolaji-Yusuf is the only female member of the court’s five-person panel. She was born on August 7, 1959, in Oyo West LGA, Oyo State.
In 1983, the judge earned her LL.B from Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife. The next year, she attended the Nigerian Law School to obtain her BL certificate.
On January 30, 1997, she was appointed to the Oyo State High Court, and on March 24, 2014, she was elevated to the Court of Appeal.
Justice Boloukuoromo Ugo
Justice Boloukuoromo Ugo, at 57, is the youngest member of the Presidential Election Petition Court bench. He is from Bayelsa State’s Kolokuma/Opokua Local Government Area.
In 1989, Justice Ugo received his LL.B degree from the University of Calabar before enrolling at the Nigerian Law School in Lagos the following year to get his BL certificate. On March 21, 2006, he was appointed to the High Court of Bayelsa State, and on March 24, 2019, he was elevated to the Court of Appeal.
Justice Abba Mohammed
Justice Abba Mohammed is from Kano State. On February 19, 1961, he was born.
In 1984, he received his LL.B degree from the Institute of Administration, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, before enrolling in the Nigerian Law School in Lagos the following year, where he received his BL Certificate in 1985.
In 2010, Justice Mohammed was appointed to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court.
On June 28, 2021, he was promoted to the Court of Appeal after serving for almost ten years. In 2019, he presided over the Nasarawa State Governorship Election Tribunal.
