The Court of Appeal in Abuja has set Friday for the ruling in Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf’s appeal against his dismissal by the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal in Kano State.
A three-judge panel headed by Justice Oluyemi Akintan Osadebay declared 165,663 of Yusuf’s votes void on September 20, 2023 because the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had not signed or stamped them. Consequently, the number of votes cast for the governor was decreased to 853,939, while the 890,705 votes cast for Nasiru Ganuwa did not change.
Anaedoonline.ng is aware that the governor filed an appeal with the appeals court after rejecting the tribunal’s decision, calling it “unfair” and “a miscarriage of justice.”
Kano Governorship Election Petition Tribunal Sacks NNPP’s Abba Kabir, Declares APC Candidate Winner
Wole Olanipekun, the candidate for the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), was represented by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria during the court hearings, who asked for the judgement of the tribunal to be reversed.
He said that this was a first in election history and appealed to the tribunal’s decision to declare the election void because of unsigned ballots.
Additionally, Olanipekun contended that the tribunal erred in permitting a political party to submit a petition without designating its candidate as a party. Despite this, Olanipekun’s claims were refuted by Akin Olujimi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria for the APC, who cited the Appeal Court’s decision that unsigned ballots constituted election malpractice.
In support of his claim that INEC rules specify what presiding officers must do during the polls, he said that ballots must be signed and dated on the reverse.
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