Victoria Mgbanwa
The Supreme Court has declared Nasiru Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress winner of the election, setting aside the lower courts’ decisions and sacking the Kano State Governor, Yusuff Abba, of New Nigeria Peoples Party.
This was done, after declaring 165,663 of his votes invalid. The tribunal held that the deducted votes were from ballot papers that were neither stamped nor signed.
He then approached the appeal court for redress. The appeal court upheld the tribunal’s decision and faulted the lower court for not disqualifying the governor.
The appellate court stated that “The governor was not properly sponsored by the New Nigeria Peoples Party, thus violating the provisions of Section 177 (c) of the constitution.”
While at the Supreme Court, Justice John Okoro ordered that all the ballot papers from which the appellant votes were deducted should be restored to the governor. Stating that “the said paper contains the logo of INEC and the coat of arms as prescribed by the provisions of the Electoral Act.”
