Victor EzejaCourt of Appeal has upheld the judgment of the election petition tribunal that nullified the election of Kabir Abba Yusuf as governor of Kano State.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), the winner of the March 18 governorship election in Kano.
INEC had declared that Yusuf polled a total of 1,019,602 votes in the election.
However, the election petition tribunal in a virtual judgement delivered on September 20, sacked Governor Yusuf, from office and declared Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna of the All Progressive Congress as the valid winner of the governorship poll.
The three-member panel of the tribunal, led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan-Osadebay held that some of the votes that Yusuf relied on to be declared winner were invalid and went ahead to remove them after which the tally reduced to 853, 939 votes.
The APC candidate, Gawuna, who scored 890,705 votes, was declared winner of the election.
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Not satisfied with the ruling, Governor Yusuf approached the appellate court to set it aside, contending that the tribunal wrongly applied the law.
In a unanimous ruling on Friday, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Moore Adumein declared Gawuna of the APC as the winner of the election.
The appellate court held that Yusuf was not a valid member of the NNPP as of the time of the election and was therefore not qualified to contest.
“Yusuf Abba was not a member of the NNPP as of the time he was purportedly sponsored on 18 March for the Kano Governorship election,” Justice Adumein declared.
“A person must be a member of a political party before he can be sponsored for an election.
“The tribunal was wrong not have disqualified the appellant, Governor Yusuf. The failure of NNPP to properly sponsor Mr Yusuf according to Section 177 (c) of the constitution, is fatal to their case.
“All the nine issues are hereby resolved against the appellant, the judge held. This appeal is hereby dismissed,” the judge ruled.
The judge further awarded the sum of N1 million as a cost against Governor Yusuf.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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