Leaders of the Kano Igbo community have stated that the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Kano Division in Appeal No. CA/KN/64/2020 remains the subsisting judicial pronouncement on the long-running dispute surrounding the Eze Ndi Igbo of Kano stool, pending the final determination of the matter by the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
The position was contained in a statement signed by Assistant Secretary, Igbo Community Association Kano (ICA), Nworisa Michael, and made available to newsmen in Kano, Wednesday.
The community leaders cautioned that recent developments and continued public discussions surrounding the stool had made it necessary to clarify what they described as the prevailing legal position on the matter.
The statement, said the Court of Appeal found that the constitutional procedures prescribed under the constitution of the Igbo Community Association (ICA) for the emergence, installation and recognition of an Eze Ndi Igbo of Kano were not complied with in the process relied upon by Chief Boniface Ibekwe in asserting entitlement to the stool.
They stated that the appellate court consequently set aside the judgment and legal foundation upon which those claims had rested and directed that the constitutional procedures governing the emergence of an Eze Ndi Igbo of Kano be complied with in accordance with the provisions of the ICA constitution.
“As of the date of the statement, no judgment of the Supreme Court of Nigeria had reversed, varied or set aside the judgment delivered by the Court of Appeal in Appeal No. CA/KN/64/2020.
“The appellate court’s decision therefore remains the subsisting and binding judicial pronouncement on the dispute pending the final determination of the appeal before the apex court,” they said.