Ismail Abdulazeez Mantu Reporting
Kano State, Nigeria
In a shocking development, the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has sacked Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State.
A three-man panel of judges led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan Osadebay had sacked Yusuf on September 20, 2023, by declaring 165,663 of his votes invalid because they were not signed or stamped by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The governor’s votes were then reduced to 853,939 while those of Nasir Ganuwa, his All Progressives Congress (APC) rivel 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.
At the court, Wole Olanipekun, SAN, lead for Yusuf, asked that the judgement of the tribunal be set aside.
Kicking against the ruling on ballot papers, the senior lawyer said this is the first time in the history that a tribunal would annul an election over non-signing of the back of ballot papers.
He had said the tribunal erred, 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.
There’s a price to pay and a prize to win for everything. The Appeal Court’s judgement is a wake up call on the so-called god-fathers who I’ll impose candidates without looking back. Now Abba Yusuf is going to be the longest ‘sitting governor’ having suffered the same fate four years ago.