Real Reason Tribunal Sacked Kano Governor

Real Reason Tribunal Sacked Kano Governor

On Wednesday, the Kano State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal ousted Governor Abba Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and declared Nasiru Gawuna, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the election.

According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the NNPP garnered 1,019,602 votes, surpassing the APC, whose candidate, Mr. Gawuna, secured 890,705 votes. This gave the NNPP candidate a winning margin of 128,897 votes.

The APC contested the election results by filing a petition against Mr. Yusuf.

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Led by Oluyemi Asadebay, the three-member panel of judges delivered the verdict virtually on Wednesday.

The court nullified 165,663 votes in favor of the NNPP, deeming them invalid due to lack of stamping or signing on the ballot papers.

The tribunal affirmed that the petitioner successfully demonstrated that some votes were invalid as they did not conform to the Electoral Act of 2022.

Consequently, the tribunal directed that the invalid votes attributed to Mr. Yusuf be removed from his total vote count.

Furthermore, the tribunal instructed INEC to retract the certificate of return previously issued to Mr. Yusuf and award it to the APC candidate, Mr. Gawuna.

The tribunal also affirmed that Mr. Yusuf was not a registered member of the NNPP at the time he contested and won the election, concluding that he did not fulfill the necessary procedures for NNPP membership, and thus was not qualified to participate in the election.

The petitioners alleged irregularities during the polls and contested Governor Yusuf’s eligibility to run for the election.

In court, the petitioner’s lawyer, Mr. Fagge, argued that the governor was not a registered member of the NNPP at the time he contested and was declared the winner of the election. He presented the INEC-certified copy of the NNPP membership register to support his argument.

Mr. Fagge contended, “According to the law, one must be a member of a political party before contesting any election. Section 75 of the Electoral Act 2022 clearly states that all political parties must submit their register to INEC no later than 30 days before their party’s primary election. The governor’s name is absent from the certified true copy of the NNPP register issued by INEC.”

He rejected the alternative membership register provided by the NNPP, asserting that it was updated at the ward level after the APC had already filed its petition. He argued that the register did not meet the requirements of the law and INEC’s standards.

The APC’s lawyer also presented over 270,000 ballot papers with NNPP thumbprints. He contended that although these papers were certified by INEC, they lacked signatures, stamps, and dates, rendering them invalid.

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