Supreme Court declares Abba Kabir Yusuf as Kano gov

The Supreme Court of Nigeria has declared Abba Kabir Yusuf as the duly elected Governor of Kano State.

The court reversed the judgement of the Court of Appeal, which earlier sacked Yusuf from office.

The lower court affirmed the judgement of the Kano State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal.

The Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal declared Yusuf’s main challenger, Nasir Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner of the March 18 governorship election.

The tribunal had, therefore, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw Yusuf’s certificate of return and instead issue the same to Gawuna.

Also, the appellate court had while affirming his sack, further held that the governor was not a member of his party as of the time of the election and could not have been properly sponsored for the election.

Not satisfied with the judgements of the lower courts, Yusuf appealed to the Supreme Court, which delivered judgement in his favour.

TNG reports Governor Yusuf contested the election under the platform of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP).

He was declared winner of the March 18 governorship election in Kano by INEC.

Justice John Okoro, who read the lead judgement said the Court of Appeal was wrong in affirming the decision of the Tribunal, which held that Yusuf did not win the majority of lawful votes cast in the governorship election.

In determining the case, the apex court raised two issues: whether the lower court was right in deducting the 165,616 votes of the Governor.

Justice Okoro held that the Tribunal was wrong in deducting the votes accrued to the Governor.

“What is the effect of a ballot paper not having the marks by the electoral commission? “A ballot paper that does not bear INEC mark is not invalid by all purposes.

“It requires that it must be proven that a ballot paper was not the one deployed for the conduct of the election.

“There is no proof that the said ballot papers were not the ones used at the election.

“Thus, the decision of the Court of Appeal affirming the decision of the tribunal ought to be set aside.

“Finally, the lower court wrongly misconstrued its evaluation of the ballot papers. This amounts to perversion.

“Accordingly, all the ballot papers are restored to Governor Yusuf,” Justice Okoro said in his lead judgement.

Details later…