Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has fixed tomorrow, Friday, November 17, 2023, for judgment in the Kano State governorship election
By Emma Ogbuehi
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has fixed tomorrow, Friday, November 17, 2023, for judgment in the Kano State governorship election dispute between Governor Abba Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), and Nasiru Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The judgment will be delivered by 10 a.m.
Recall that the court had on November 6, 2023, reserved judgment in the appeal by the state governor, Yusuf, who is challenging his removal by the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.
The tribunal on September 20 nullified Yusuf’s election by declaring 165, 663 of his votes invalid.
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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), had declared Yusuf the winner of the March 18 governorship 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 Yusuf’s score, his votes were reduced to 853, 939, which was over 30,000 votes less than the 890,705 votes polled by Gawuna.
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 issue another to Gawuna.
Dissatisfied with the judgment, Yusuf and his party, the NNPP, as well as the INEC approached the appellate court to challenge the judgment of the lower court.
Expectations on the outcome of the Appeal Court verdict had caused serious tension in Kano, with the law enforcement agents constantly harping on the need for the residents to maintain the peace.
