Kano guber: Supreme Court reserves judgement in Abba Yusuf’s suit

The Supreme Court, on Thursday, reserved judgement in the appeal filed by the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) seeking to affirm its candidate, Abba Yusuf, as the governor of Kano State.

In September, the Kano State governorship election petition tribunal 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 Supreme Court, however, said a date for the judgement will be communicated to all parties.

The Star