The Appeal Court sitting in Abuja on Friday, sacked Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State while upholding the verdict of the tribunal led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan Osadebay which sacked Yusuf on September 20, 2023.
The lower court had declared 165,663 votes of Yusuf, who contested under the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), invalid because they were not signed or stamped by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), whereas the governor’s votes were reduced to 853,939 while those of Nasir Ganuwa, his All Progressives Congress (APC) rival, remained at 890,705.
Yusuf had rejected the tribunal verdict, which he described as “unfair” and “a miscarriage of justice”, and headed to the appeal court.
Wole Olanipekun, SAN, the lead counsel for Yusuf, at the court, asked that the judgement of the tribunal be set aside.
Kicking against the ruling on ballot papers, the senior lawyer said that was the first time in history that a tribunal would annul an election over non-signing of the back of ballot papers, arguing further that, that was the first time that a political party would file a matter without joining its candidate as a party in the petition and the candidate would declared winner of the polls.
But Akin Olujimi SAN, counsel for APC, countered him saying the Appeal Court stated emphatically that the non-signing of ballots amounted to electoral malpractice.
The Informant247 had on Thursday reported that the Appeal Court sitting in Abuja had fixed November 17 for the judgment in the appeal of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf’s file to challenge his removal by the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal.
