Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State has been sacked by the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja.

The appellate court on Friday, November 17 upheld the decision of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal which declared Nasir Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the election.

The appellate court declared Gawuna as the duly elected governor of the state.

In a unanimous judgement, a three-member panel of the appellate court dismissed Yusuf’s appeal.

The appellate court held that Governor Yusuf was not a valid candidate in the March 18 governorship election.

The panel stated that Yusuf was not validly sponsored by the NNPP.

Justice Moore U. Adumein in his lead judgement held that: “A person must be a member of a political party before he can be sponsored for an election.

“Sponsorship without membership is like putting something on nothing.”

Delivering the judgment Justice Adumein held that Yusuf was not qualified to contest the election.

The Independent National Electronic Electoral Commission (INEC) had announced Yusuf as the winner of the March 18, 2023 election, saying he garnered 1,019,602 votes to defeat Gawuna who got 890,705 of the votes cast.

But the APC approached the Tribunal, citing alleged electoral malpractice.

The Tribunal, agreeing with the APC, nullified Yusuf’s election, adding that over 160,000 ballot papers “were not signed or stamped by INEC”.

Yusuf’s votes were subsequently reduced to 853,939 while Ganuwa’s 890,705 votes were not affected.

The three-man panel of the Tribunal led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan Osadebay sacked Yusuf on September 20, 2023, after deducting 165,663 of his votes.

The governor then filed an appeal before the appellate court.

The appellate court held that Yusuf did not put up any resistance against the allegation that he was not a member of the party.

“If you claim you are a member of a party is it not logical to say so yourself rather than by proxy?” the judge asked.

He held that Section 134 of the electoral act allowed the court to entertain an averment on the qualification of a candidate in an election.

The appellate court held that the court cannot allow political parties act arbitrarily.

He said: “Constitution is supreme and binding on all person including political parties.

“Political parties cannot be permitted to circumvent the clear and mandatory provision of the constitution. To contest an election you must not only be a member of a party but sponsored by that party.

“The electoral act made it mandatory that a party must keep a register of its members and make it available to INEC before an election.

“Yusuf was not a member of his party by the time he was purportedly sponsored by his party. He was not qualified to contest for the election. A court must be consistent with its judgement”

He noted that the tribunal was wrong not to have disqualified Yusuf in its ruling.

“The tribunal was wrong not to have disqualified him. The failure to comply with section 177(c) is fatal to their election.

“Where a party carelessly nominates a candidate such is nullity irrespective of whether he performs well. Sponsorship without membership is like putting nothing on something, it cannot stand.

“This is a clear example of acting with brazen impunity as if the Constitution is not binding,” he held.

Adumein, however, berated political parties for always blaming their defeat at the court and on the judges.

He said, “The same party will wake up to accuse the judiciary including infamous allegations of corrupt practices.”

The lower court had on September 20, 2023 nullified 165,663 votes of Governor Yusuf of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP).

The tribunal declared the votes invalid on the grounds that they were not signed or stamped by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The governor’s votes were then reduced to 853,939 while those of Ganuwa remained at 890,705.

The Star