The Kano State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal on Wednesday nullified the election of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, and declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Nasiru Gawuna winner of the March 18 governorship poll.
Delivering judgement, the three-man panel, led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan-Osadebay held that the margin of votes scored by NNPP was invalid and was not conducted in compliance with the 2022 electoral act.
Reading of the judgment was transmitted virtually via Zoom, a teleconference service as the panel members were not physically in court.
The court deducted 165,663 votes from Yusuf as invalid, stating that the ballot papers were not stamped or signed and therefore declared invalid.
The ruling came weeks after lawyers of both parties made their closing arguments on behalf of their clients on 21 August.
Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had declared that the NNPP polled 1,019,602 votes to defeat the APC with its candidate, Nasir Gawuna who scored 890,705 votes. The NNPP candidate thus won with a margin of 128,897 votes.
However, the APC filed a petition at the tribunal to challenge the results declared by the electoral body.
After the declaration by INEC, Gawauna congratulated Yusuf, but the All Progressives Congress headed to court to challenge the victory.
