Supreme Court Restores Mandate Of Kano Governor, Sets Aside Appeal Court Judgement
Justice Inyang Okoro of the Supreme Court has restored the mandate of Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State.
The apex court sets aside the decision of the Kano state Election Petition Tribunal amd the Court of Appeal. Sitting in Abuna, which sacked the governor.
The court said Governor Yusuf was validly elected as Kano state Governor.
The court also restored the 165,663 votes deducted from the total votes obtained by the Governor at the poll.
On November 17, 2023, the Appeal Court agreed with the judgment of the tribunal, ruling that the fielding of Abba Yusuf was in breach of the Electoral Law as he was not qualified to contest that Election
Earlier, the Kano Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, on September 20, sacked Yusuf, declaring the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Nasiru Gawuna, as the winner of the March 18 election.
Yusuf, who contested on the platform of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), was declared the winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after the poll in March.
The tribunal deducted 165,663 votes from Yusuf’s total as invalid votes, stating that the affected ballot papers were not stamped or signed and therefore declared invalid.
The ruling came about six months after the APC candidate conceded defeat to Yusuf in the wake of INEC’s presentation of the certificate of return to the NNPP candidate.
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