The Court of Appeal, Kano State Division has fixed Monday November 6 to hear the appeal filed by Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf challenging the nullification of his election by the Kano Election Petition Tribunal.
Governor Yusuf and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) are the applicants while the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Nasiru Gawuna are defendants. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is also a party in the suit.
The Kano Governorship Election Petition Tribunal on September 20 nullified the election of Governor Yusuf by declaring 165, 663 of his votes invalid, saying the ballot papers were not signed or stamped by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
INEC declared Yusuf winner of the March 18 election after he secured 1,019,602 votes against his opponent Nasiru Gawuna who secured 890,705 votes.
However, after the tribunal deducted the 165,663 votes from Yusuf’s tally, his votes were reduced to 853, 939, which were over 30,000 votes less than the 890,705 votes polled by Gawuna who is the candidate of the APC.
Consequently, the court declared the APC candidate winner of the governorship election and ordered the INEC to withdraw Yusuf’s certificate of return and give Gawuna a new one.
But Yusuf and NNPP as well as INEC have appealed the tribunal’s judgement.