The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Friday nullified the election of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State.

The appellate court, in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel of justices led by Justice Moore A. Adumein upheld the appeal of Nasir Yusuf Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

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It held that Governor Yusuf was not a valid candidate in the gubernatorial election held in the state on March 18.

The panel maintained that evidence that was adduced by the parties established that Governor Yusuf was not a member of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, at the time the election was held.

According to the court, Yusuf, under Section 177(c) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, was not qualified to contest the governorship election since he was not validly sponsored by the NNPP.

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The panel held that every political party shall maintain the register of its members as provided in Section 77 of the Electoral Act, 2022.

The court said the appellant, to his own detriment, did not submit his NNPP membership registrar or even tendered his statement on oath regarding his membership of the party.

The court said the 1999 Constitution made it mandatory for a political party to have a membership register and submit the same to INEC and the Tribunal when needed.

Justice Adumein said, “As rightfully found, Yusuf Abba was not a member of the NNPP at the time he was purportedly sponsored by his party, and he was not qualified to contest the March Governorship Election.”

The Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal had declared Gawuna winner of the March 18 election.

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The tribunal on September 20 overturned the Independent National Electronic Electoral Commission’s (INEC’s) announcement of Yusuf with 1,019,602 votes against Gawuna’s 890,705 votes following APC’s petition.

The APC had alleged electoral malpractices.

In nullifying the election, the tribunal agreed with the APC that over 160,000 ballot papers “were not signed or stamped by INEC.”

Yusuf’s votes were subsequently reduced by 165,663 to 853,939 while Ganuwa’s 890,705 votes were not affected.

VANGUARD