Today, November 17, the Court of Appeal in Abuja upheld the ruling of the Kano State Electoral Tribunal that dismissed Kano State Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf and declared Nasir Ganwa of the APC the winner of the March 18 election.
The state court, in its September 20, 2023 ruling, nullified INEC’s declaration of Abba Yusuf of the NNPP as the winner. The lower court invalidated Yusuf’s 165,663 votes on the grounds that they were not signed or stamped by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Yusuf’s vote was subsequently reduced to 853,939, while his All Progressives Congress (APC) rival Nasir Ganwa’s vote remained at 890,705.
Yusuf rejected the court verdict, which he described as “unfair” and a “miscarriage of justice,” and headed to the Court of Appeal
In court, Yusuf Wole Olanipekun SAN, asked that the court’s ruling be set aside. The lawyer disagreed with the court’s ruling on the ballot papers, stating that this is the first time in history that an election has been invalidated because of the lack of signatures on the back of the ballot papers.
He further argued that this was the first time in history that a political party filed a lawsuit without involving its candidate as a party and the candidate was declared the winner of the election.
However, Akin Orjimi SAN, counsel for the APC, countered that the appeal court emphatically stated that the non-signing of the ballots was an election violation.
The appeal court held that Yusuf was not even qualified to run for governor in the first place because he was not a registered member of the NNPP.