The Kano State Election Petition Tribunal have nullified the election of Governor Abba Kabir-Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and declared Nasiru Yusuf-Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner of the March 18 governorship election.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that the unanimous judgment, which was delivered via Zoom by a three-member panel led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan-Osadebay on Wednesday, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Yusuf and hand it over to Gawuna.
The tribunal held that the margin of votes scored by NNPP was invalid and not in compliance with the 2022 Electoral Act because 165,663 of its ballot papers were not stamped or signed.
The tribunal deducted 165,663 votes from NNPP, which left it with 853,939 votes, while APC remained at 890,705 votes. This gave APC a lead of 36,766 votes.
The tribunal also resolved all three grounds of the petition in favour of APC.
It is unclear whether the NNPP will appeal the judgment. If it does, the case will next go to the Court of Appeal.
