Appeal Court Sacks Kano Gov

Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuf

The Court of  Appeal sitting in Abuja on Thursday sacked Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State.

The panel of justices upheld the verdict of the tribunal led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan Osadebay which sacked Yusuf on September 20, 2023.

The Elections Petitions Tribunal had declared 165,663 votes of Yusuf, who contested under the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), invalid on the grounds that they were not signed or stamped by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Gov. Yusuf’s votes were then reduced to 853,939 while those of Nasir Ganuwa, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) rival, remained at 890,705.

Yusuf rejected the tribunal verdict, which he describing it as “unfair” and “a miscarriage of justice”, and he headed to the Court of Appeal.

Wole Olanipekun, SAN, lead for Yusuf, told the appellate court that the tribunal erred, arguing further that, that was the first time that a political party would file a matter without joining its candidate as a party in the petition and the candidate would declared winner of the polls.

He disagreed with the ruling on ballot papers, saying it that was the first time in the history that a tribunal would annul an election over non-signing of the back of ballot papers.

Olanipekun therefore asked that the judgement of the tribunal be set aside.

But Akin Olujimi SAN, counsel for APC, countered him saying the Court of Appeal stated emphatically that the non-signing of ballots amounted to electoral malpractice.

In its ruling on Friday, the Appeal Court held that Yusuf was not eligible to contest the election because he was not a member of the NNPP.

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