The Supreme Court of Nigeria has restored Governor Abba Yusuf of the NNPP, as the winner of the gubernatorial election that held in Kano State on March 18, 2023.
The Supreme court, in a unanimous decision by a five-member panel of Justices today Friday, vacated the concurrent judgements of the Kano State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal and the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which sacked governor Abba and declared Nasiru Gawuna of the All Progressive Congress, APC, as winner of the governorship poll.
The Supreme Court held in the lead judgement by Justice Inyang Okoro, that the two lower courts wrongly deducted valid votes that were credited to governor Yusuf by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
It held that the 165,663 votes that were removed from Yusuf and the NNPP on the premise that the ballot papers were not signed, stamped or dated, were valid.
The Apex court held that contrary to the position of the lower courts, a total of 146, 292 of the ballot papers were confirmed to have been duly signed and stamped, only that they did not contain any date”.
It held that by section 63(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, that ballot papers, which bore the official mark and was duly issued by INEC, were not totally invalid.
The Supreme court held that there was no evidence that governor Abba Yusuf influenced the non signing of the ballot papers.
Apex court faulted the lower courts for nullifying Yusuf’s election on the premise that he was not a member of the NNPP, it was also held that, the issue of sponsorship of a candidate in an election was within the domestic affairs of a political party.
Yusuf won the governorship election by majority of lawful votes and was duly nominated by his political party, Supreme court ruled.
