ABUJA, Nigeria -The Court of Appeal in Abuja, has reserved judgement in the appeal brought by Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), challenging the decision of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal that declared Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the governor-elect.
On September 20, 2023, the Tribunal, led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan Osadebay, removed Yusuf from office after deducting 165,663 of his votes. Initially, INEC had declared Yusuf the winner of the March 18, 2023, election with 1,019,602 votes, defeating Gawuna, who garnered 890,705 votes.
The APC contested the election results, alleging electoral irregularities.
The Tribunal agreed with the APC, nullifying Yusuf’s election due to over 160,000 ballot papers that “were not signed or stamped by INEC.”
Subsequently, the governor lodged an appeal with the appellate court. The APC, INEC, and the NNPP also filed cross-appeals before the court.
During the court proceedings on Monday, Governor Yusuf’s lead counsel, Wole Olanipekun SAN, urged the court to uphold the appellant’s appeal and overturn the entire judgment of the lower Tribunal.
He argued that the lower Tribunal established new legal precedents that deviated from previous rulings by appellate and Supreme Courts.
Olanipekun particularly emphasized the issue of ballot papers, noting that it was unprecedented for a Tribunal to annul an election due to the non-signing of the back of ballot papers.
Akin Olujimi SAN, the counsel for the APC, argued that the decisions of the Appeal Courts dating back to 2009 had consistently considered the failure to sign ballots as electoral malpractice.
He stressed that INEC regulations explicitly required the signing and dating of the back of ballot papers by presiding officers.
Olujimi also urged the court to determine whether the Kano State governor was a member of the NNPP at the time he was sponsored by the party. A.B. Mahmoud SAN, representing INEC, requested the dismissal of the APC’s cross-appeal, citing a lack of merit.
“Judgement in this appeal is hereby reserved to a date to be communicated to the parties,” the court of appeal said.