Kano, Nigeria
Kabir Yusuf, governor of Kano state has been sacked by the Kano Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and declared the candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Nasir Gawuna winner of the March 18 election.
Yusuf of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) was declared the winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in March.
Nasir Gawuna of the APC congratulated Yusuf but his party proceeded to court to challenge NNPP’s victory.
Ruling on the case on Wednesday via Zoom, the three-man panel of the tribunal ordered INEC to withdraw the certificate of return presented to Yusuf, saying Guwuna should be issued a fresh certificate of return by the electoral umpire.
According to the court, 165,663 votes were deducted from Yusuf’s total as invalid votes, stating that the ballot papers (165,663) were not stamped or signed and therefore declared invalid.
All three grounds of the petition were resolved in favour of APC.
The grounds include Yusuf’s membership in NNPP; non-compliance with the Electoral Act 2022 and total lawful votes (Invalid ballot papers used in the election).
NNPP has kicked against the judgement, vowing to challenge it at the Appeal Court.
