The Court of Appeal in Abuja, Friday, sent jitters down the spine of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Nigeria’s Kano State by nullifying his election.
In its judgment on Friday, the Appellate Court agreed with the judgment of the tribunal that fielding of Abba Yusuf was in breach of the Electoral Law as he was not qualified to contest that 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 March 18 poll.
Read also
- Kano Court sentences Islamic cleric to death for blasphemy
- Former Kano Governor Shekarau dumps APC for NNDP
- Pastor murdered by mob in Kano buried
The verdict comes after a three-man Kano Governorship Election Petition Tribunal panel of judges led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan Osadebay had, September 20, sacked Yusuf, declaring the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Nasiru Gawuna, as the winner of the election.
The tribunal deducted 165,663 votes from Yusuf’s total as invalid votes, stating that the affected ballot papers were not stamped or signed by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and therefore declared such invalid.
Votes garnered by the governor who contested under the platform of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, were then reduced to 853,939, while those of Nasir Ganuwa of the All Progressives Congress, APC, remained at 890,705.
Governor Yusuf filed an appeal at the appellate court seeking to set aside the verdict of the lower court.
Ruling on the matter, the Appeal Court upheld the ruling of the tribunal, saying the governor was not qualified to contest the poll.
According to the court, Yusuf was not a member of NNPP at the time the elections were conducted.
Justice Moore Adumein read the unanimous judgment that was greeted with thunderous jubilations which shook the court for several minutes.
Reacting to the judgment, the APC hailed it and described it as a show of the vibrancy of the nation’s judiciary.
“As we applaud the judiciary for its courage and professionalism in discharging its important constitutional duties, we urge it to continue to rise above blackmail and intimidation by some self-serving political interests, and continue to give full expression to the tenets of the law, irrespective of the identity or status of the parties involved,” the party’s spokesman Felix Morka said.
