The Supreme Court has set Wednesday, January 28 to rule on the application by MP for Kpandai, Matthew Nyindam to quash the decision of the Tamale High Court.
NDC Parliamentary candidate Kpandai, Daniel Nsala Wakpal filed an election petition which resulted in the annulment of Nyindam’s election.
Lawyers of Nyindam then escalated the matter to the apex court arguing that the High Court judge lacked jurisdiction and the petition was filed after the mandatory 21-day period.
On Tuesday, January 13, the lawyers prayed the Supreme Court to overturn the Tamale High Court’s decision on grounds that the NDC Kpandai Parliamentary candidate filed his petition on January 25, 2025, after the 21-day mandatory period.
He indicated that the gazette notification of the Kpandai results was published on December 24, noting that the judge committed jurisdictional error when he heard the case.
Lead counsel for Nyindam, Gary Nimako, again indicated that all other actions taken by the Tamale High Court after the expiration of the mandatory period was erroneous and thus should be considered null and void.
He pleaded witih the court to grant their application to quash the Tamale High Court’s decision.
“The law provides the timelines within which a petition can be filed and before the High Court can be grounded with jurisdiction and that is 21 days after gazette of the official results.
“We submit that the petition filed by Wakpal on 25/1/25 was out of time and therefore the High Court judge ought to satisfy himself that he had jurisdiction before assuming jurisdiction to hear that matter. Having not done that we submit that the petition and the judgement ought to be struck out by this court.
“Having regard to the fact that the High Court judge assumed jurisdiction outside the mandatory scope prescribed by statute which is the condition precedent, this error is so apparent on the face of the record and this court cannot close its eyes to it and this warrants this court to exercise its jurisdiction to quash same.
“We have showed this court that the High Court went outside the scope of jurisdiction prescribed by the law. We submit that the trial judge made an error apparent on the face of the law which goes to jurisdiction and therefore renders the judgment delivered on 24 November 2025… Having breached section 18 of PNDC Law 284 the judgement of the High Court ought to be quashed,” Nimako submitted.
But lawyers of Daniel Nsala Wakpal, led by Sika Abla Addo opposed the application.
She stressed that the Kpandai election results were re-gazetted on January 6 hence their petition filed was well within the time of the mandatory 21 days.
Abla Addo further noted that the January 6 gazette was a comprehensive one which contained results of all the 276 constituencies including Kpandai so there was no point letting the December 24 one take precedence.
She accused the NPP candidate of cherry picking the gazette notification after Nyindam relied on the January 6 one at the Tamale High Court. She therefore prayed the court to dismiss the application.
“We are opposed to the application and rely on affidavit in opposition filed on January 6, and the statement of case filed on the same date.
“Our submission is that the applicant here is cherry picking gazette notifications because the decision based on the gazette notification which was based on a petition filed on the back of gazette notifications because the gazette which was brought by the applicant himself is here today saying it should not be the one that should be relied upon.
“There were two gazettes – the 6 January 2025 and 24 December 2025 gazette.
“The 6 January 2025 gazette should take precedent over the 24 December gazette. With all intent and purposes rhe court was satisfied that there was a gazette notification on 6 January 2025 and it was on the back of this that the court assumed jurisdiction and proceeded to hear the matter and delivered a judgment.
“It could not have lost om everybody including the EC that it did not publish gazette om 24/12/2024 as at the time this petition was filed. We are urging this court to accept the Jan 6 gazette as that gazette formed the basis of the proceedings of the High Court which emanates from the EC,” Abla Addo reiterated.
Lawyer for the Electoral Commission, which was the second interested party also acknowledged the existence of the two gazette notifications and noted that he had acquired hardcopies of same.
The case has since been adjourned to January 28 for determination. Meanwhile the apex court ordered that the suspension of the Kpandai election rerun continues to hold until the determination of the matter.
