The Court of Appeal in Abuja has nullified the election of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State. The unanimous ruling by a three-member panel of justices held that Governor Yusuf was not a valid candidate in the gubernatorial election that took place on March 18.
The court stated that evidence presented by the parties convincingly established that Governor Yusuf was not a member of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) at the time of the election. This crucial factor, the court maintained, made Yusuf ineligible to contest the governorship election under section 177(c) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, since he was not validly sponsored by the NNPP.
Justice M. U. Adumeh, delivering the lead judgement, stated, “A person must be a member of a political party before he can be sponsored for an election. Sponsorship without membership is like putting something on nothing.”
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Consequently, the appellate court affirmed the earlier judgement of the Kano State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which had nullified Governor Yusuf’s election.
Recall that on September 20, the tribunal, in a virtual judgement, ousted Governor Yusuf of the NNPP from office, declaring Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna of the All Progressive Congress (APC) as the rightful winner of the governorship poll held on March 18.
The tribunal, led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan-Osadebay, determined that certain ballot papers, pivotal in declaring Yusuf as the victor, lacked the necessary signatures and stamps from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Consequently, 165,663 votes attributed to the NNPP candidate were deemed invalid.
After deducting the invalidated votes, Governor Yusuf, initially declared the winner with 1,019,602 votes, saw his tally reduced to 853,939 votes. In a turn of events, his closest rival, Ganuwa, the APC candidate, emerged as the new winner with 890,705 votes.
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