By Ibrahim Muhammad Kano
The Appeal Court sitting in Abuja, has fixed Monday, November 6, 2023, for hearing of the Appeal filed by Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf challenging the nullification of his election by the Kano Election Petition Tribunal.
The notice shows that the suit with case no: CA/KN/EP/GOV/KAN/34/2023 will be heard on the said date.
Parties in the suit include Governor Abba KabirYusuf and his party NNPP as well as the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
It could be recalled that on September 20, 2023, the Kano Governorship Election Petition Tribunal had nullified the election of Abba Kabir Yusuf by declaring 165,663 of his votes invalid, saying they were not signed or stamped by INEC.
INEC had declared Mr Yusuf winner of the March 18, 2023 election after he secured 1,019,602 votes against his opponent Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna who secured 890,705 votes.
However, after the tribunal deducted the 165,663 votes from Abba Kabir 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.
Consequently, the court declared the APC candidate winner of the governorship election and ordered the INEC to withdraw Abba Yusuf’s certificate of return and give Gawuna a new one.
But Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf and his party the NNPP as well as INEC have since appealed the tribunal’s judgement.
