The Court of Appeal on Friday upheld the decision of the Federal High Court which voided the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Certificates of Return of 10 defunct CPC lawmakers from Katsina State.
Those whose certificates were voided are Sen. Abubakar Yar’adua; Katsina Central, Senator Hadi Sirika, Katsina North; Reps. Ahmed Kaita and Salisu Salisco.
The others are: Reps. Umar Abubakar, Salisu Daura, Isa Doro, Sani Mashi, Abbas Machika and Mansur Funtua.
Justice Jimi Bada, who delivered the judgment in Abuja, held that the leadership of the National Assembly erred by accepting to swear-in the appellants in spite of a subsisting court order.
Bada said the Federal High Court was right to have dismissed the objection raised by the appellants
“The certificate of returns issued to the appellants is a nullity as INEC issued them without order from any court or tribunal,’’ he said.
Abdu Yandoma and Ahmad Sani, Murtala Isa, Muntari Dandutse, Musa Salisu, Aminu Ashiru, Umar Katsayal, Muhammad Tukur, Tasi’u Doguro, and Abdu Dankama challenged the issuance of the certificates of return to the appellants.
The two senators and eight serving members of the House of Representatives appealed to the Court of Appeal to set aside the decision of the lower court.
They had urged the appellate court to set aside the decision that voided the certificates of return issued to them by INEC in December 2011