The court of appeal in Abuja has affirmed the order of the Kano state governorship election petition tribunal which sacked Abba Yusuf, candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), as governor of the state.
In a judgment delivered on Friday, a three-member panel of the appellate court held that the NNPP breached the constitution by sponsoring Yusuf who was not a member of the party.
DAILY GIST recalls that in the March 18, 2023 election, Abba Kabir Yusuf was declared the winner by the Independent National Electronic Electoral Commission (INEC) with 1,019,602 votes, surpassing Nasiru Gawuna’s 890,705 votes.
However, the All Progressives Congress (APC) took the matter to the Tribunal, alleging electoral malpractice.
Subsequently, a three-man panel, including Justice Oluyemi Akintan Osadebay, along with two other judges, removed Yusuf from office on September 20, 2023, after declaring 165,663 of his votes invalid due to the lack of signatures or stamps from the Independent National Electoral Commission.
As a result, the governor’s votes were reduced to 853,939, while Ganuwa’s 890,705 votes remained.
Yusuf immediately rejected the Tribunal’s decision, calling it “unfair” and “a miscarriage of justice,” and appealed the ruling
