Governor Kabir of Kano

Just like what Kano State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal did ealier, the Court of Appeal has kicked out Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf.

The Kano Governorship Election Petition Tribunal had declared Gawuna Nasiru of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the March 18 election.

Yusuf, who contested the election on the platform of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) was, as TNG reported, declared winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) but was sacked by the tribunal.

In a judgment delivered on Friday, a three-member panel of the appellate court held that the NNPP breached constitutional provisions by sponsoring Yusuf who was not a member of the party.

The decision of the court was grounded in the invalidation of 165,663 votes attributed to a deficiency in signatures or stamps by INEC. The adjustment brought Yusuf’s total votes to 853,939, whereas his APC counterpart, maintains 890,705 votes.

Despite Yusuf’s dissent with the tribunal’s decision, the Appeal Court upheld the finding of electoral malpractice arising from the absence of signatures on the ballots.