The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has fixed Monday, November 6, 2023, for a hearing of the appeal filed by Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf challenging the nullification of his election by the Kano State Election Petition Tribunal.
The notice of the suit with case no CA/KN/EP/GOV/KAN/34/2023 is slated for hearing as counsels to both parties fully prepare for the legal tussle.
Parties in the suit include Yusuf and his party, the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), as well as the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
It would be recalled that on September 20, 2023, the tribunal nullified Yusuf’s election by declaring 165,663 of his votes invalid, saying they were not signed or stamped by INEC.
INEC had declared him the winner of the March 18 election after he secured 1,019,602 votes against his opponent, Nasiru Gawuna, who secured 890,705 votes.
However, after the tribunal deducted the 165,663 votes from his tally, his votes were reduced to 853,939, over 30,000 votes less than Gawuna’s figure.
Consequently, the court declared the APC candidate the winner of the governorship election and ordered the INEC to withdraw Yusuf’s certificate of return and give Gawuna a new one.
But Yusuf and the NNPP have since appealed the tribunal’s judgement, asking that it be upturned in their favour.
