Supreme Court dashes APC’s hope, reinstates Kano governor

Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuf

A reprieve has come the way of Governor Abba Yusuf as the Supreme Court upturned the decisions sacking him as Kano State Governor.

For the All Progressives Congress (APC), it was a big loss as its hope of returning to the Kano State Government House has been dashed with the judgement.

The apex court on Friday, January 12, 2024 reversed Governor Yusuf’s sacking by the Court of Appeal and the Kano State governorship election petition tribunal.

The Supreme Court held that the tribunal and the appellate court erred in their decisions.

Justice Okoro held that the two lower courts were wrong in deducting 165,616 votes from the score of the NNPP.

The Supreme Court affirmed Abba Yusuf as Governor of Kano State.

The apex court set aside the verdicts of the Court of Appeal and election petitions tribunal, which nullified the victory of Yusuf in the March 18, 2023 governorship poll.

Judgement was delivered by Justice John Okoro.

In September, the Kano State governorship election petition tribunal had sacked Yusuf as governor of the state.

The tribunal deducted 165,663 votes from the 1,019,602 recorded for Yusuf because the ballot papers (165,663) were not stamped, signed, and dated as required by the law.

The tribunal then declared Yusuf Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the March 18 governorship election in Kano State.

Displeased with the verdict, the NNPP and its candidate challenged the judgement at the appellate court.

On November 17, the Court of Appeal upheld the tribunal’s verdict and added that Yusuf was not a member of the NNPP when he contested the election.

However, controversy trailed the verdict days later when a Certified True Copy (CTC) of the Appeal Court judgement surfaced, contradicting the November 17 ruling.

The copy of the judgement ruled against and in favour of the NNPP candidate simultaneously, eliciting outrage in Kano and on social media.

The Appeal Court issued a statement hours later, blaming “clerical error” for the contradictions or discrepancies.

The NNPP then filed a notice of appeal before the Supreme Court, seeking to quash the appellate court’s judgement.

The APC, on the other hand, filed a cross-appeal at the apex court, challenging the lower court for refusing to hold that Yusuf submitted a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The Star