The Supreme Court, on Friday, affirmed Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf as the duly elected governor of Kano State.
Yusuf of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) was declared the winner of the 18 March, 2023 governorship election in the state.
However, his electoral victory was challenged by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate in the governorship election, Alhaji Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna.
The Court of Appeal granted the APC and its candidate a temporary relief as it ruled that Yusuf was not the rightful candidate of the NNPP for the election.
However, the Supreme Court set aside the ruling of the lower Court which had earlier nullified the victory of Yusuf in the governorship election.
Reading the lead judgment on Friday, Justice John Okoro held that the Court of Appeal was wrong in its judgment.
The Court of Appeal was wrong to find that the governor is not a member of the NNPP.
It held that the issue of nomination of a candidate is a pre-election matter and no other political party can interfere with how a party nominates its candidates for election.
The apex court also held that the lower Court erred to have deducted 165,616 votes from the vote secured by Governor Yusuf.
APC and its governorship candidate in the election had claimed that the 165,616 ballot papers were not from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
However, the Supreme Court ruled that allegation by the APC could not be proven.
It therefore ruled that the 165,616 should be added to the total number of votes secured by Yusuf in the governorship election.
By virtue of Section 63(1) of the Electoral Act, before a ballot paper can be declared invalid, it must be proven that it was not given to the Presiding Officer.
It was held that the ballot papers in question were both signed and stamped, but the only feature left out was the date.
