The Appeal Court in Abuja has scheduled Monday for the hearing of an appeal filed by Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) regarding the nullification of his election by the Kano Election Petition Tribunal.
Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf had filed an appeal challenging the tribunal’s decision to invalidate his election, which declared 165,663 of his votes as invalid due to a lack of INEC stamps or signatures.
The decision was handed down by a three-judge panel led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan Osadebay on September 20, 2023.
Yusuf had described the tribunal’s verdict as “unfair” and “a miscarriage of justice”.
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Parties in the suit include Governor Yusuf and his party, NNPP as well as the opposition APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
INEC had declared Yusuf winner of the March 18, 2023 election after he secured 1,019,602 votes against Gawuna who secured 890,705 votes.
However, after the tribunal deducted the 165,663 votes from Yusuf’s tally and his votes were reduced to 853,939, 30,000 votes less than the 890,705 votes polled by Gawuna.
Consequently, the court declared the APC candidate winner of the governorship election and ordered the INEC to withdraw Yusuf’s certificate.