Supreme Court Declares Abba Yusuf Governor of Kano State
Zainab Tanimu
Kaduna, Northwest Nigeria
The Supreme Court of Nigeria has declared NNPP 2023 Governorship candidate, Abba Yusuf as dully elected Governor of Kano State.
A five-member panel of the apex court held that the tribunal and the court of appeal erred by sacking Yusuf, candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), as Governor of the State.
The Kano State Governorship Election Tribunal in September, 2023 had nullified Abba Yusuf’s victory, while affirming
Nasiru Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the duly elected governor.
In March 2023, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Abba Yusuf as the winner of the Kano governorship election.
The Kano governor scored 1,019,602 votes to defeat Yusuf Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who polled 890,705 votes.
The Kano State Governorship Election Tribunal in September, 2023 had nullified Abba Yusuf’s victory by deducting 165,663 votes from the 1,019,602 recorded for him because according to it, the ballot papers were not stamped, signed and dated as required by law.
Thus, declaring Nasiru Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the duly elected governor.
As a result of the Court of Appeal and the State Election Petitions Tribunal’s judgement which did not go down well with the NNPP candidate, the governor headed to the apex court to seek redress.
The supreme court had reserved judgment after hearing the appeals on December 21, 2023.
In its judgement, the panel led by John Okoro held that the tribunal was wrong to have invalidated 165,663 votes from the votes polled by Yusuf.
The apex court held that the ballot papers cannot be invalidated because they came from the booklet of ballot papers which carried official logos and the map of Nigeria.
In its ruling, Okoro of the supreme court said: “There is no proof that the said ballot papers were not the ones used at the election”.
“Thus the decision of the court of appeal affirming the decision of the tribunal ought to be set aside,” he added.
With the appeal court not having enough proof and issuing a statement blaming “clerical error” for the contradictions or discrepancies, thus, the affirmation of Abba Yusuf as the governor of Kano state.
