The Supreme Court has upheld the election of the Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) as the governor of the state.
The five-man panel of the court lead by John Inyang Okoro, held that the 165, 616 votes complied with the provisions of Section 71 of the Electoral Act have been signed and stamped by the election agents.
The court held that the All Progressive Congress (APC) and its flagbearer, Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, failed to prove that the votes were unlawful.
Therefore, the court ordered that the signed and stamped 165, 616 votes be returned to the appallant.
With the verdict, the court thereby set aside the judgement of the lower court and declared that the Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf won the 2023 governorship election in Kano State with the majority votes.
The Independent National Electronic Electoral Commission (INEC) had announced Yusuf as the winner of the March 18, 2023 election, saying he garnered 1,019,602 votes to defeat Gawuna who got 890,705 of the votes cast.
Consequently, the APC headed the Tribunal, citing alleged electoral malpractice.
The Tribunal in its ruling nullified Yusuf’s election, adding that over 160,000 ballot papers “were not signed or stamped by INEC”.
The three-man panel of the Tribunal led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan Osadebay sacked Yusuf on September 20, 2023, after deducting 165,663 of his votes.
Yusuf’s votes were subsequently reduced to 853,939 while Ganuwa’s 890,705 votes were not affected.
