The Court of Appeal in Abuja delivered a unanimous decision on Friday that nullified the election of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State.
A three-member panel of justices concluded that Governor Yusuf was not a legitimate candidate in the state’s gubernatorial election held on March 18.
The court established from evidence presented by the involved parties that Governor Yusuf was not a member of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) at the time of the election. According to the court, under section 177(c) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, Yusuf’s candidacy lacked qualification as he wasn’t validly sponsored by the NNPP.
In the lead judgment delivered by Justice M. U. Adumeh, the court emphasized, “Sponsorship without membership is like putting something on nothing.”
Subsequently, the appellate court affirmed the prior decision of the Kano State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which nullified Governor Yusuf’s election.
Earlier, the tribunal, led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan-Osadebay, annulled Yusuf’s victory, citing unsigned and unstamped ballot papers used to declare him the winner.
The tribunal invalidated 165,663 votes credited to the NNPP candidate, reducing Yusuf’s total tally from 1,019,602 to 853,939 votes.
Following this deduction, Yusuf’s opponent from the APC, Ganuwa, emerged as the winner of the election with 890,705 votes.
