How Supreme Court Returned 165,000 Votes to Kano NNPP, Declared Abba as Governor

The Supreme Court has affirmed the election of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State, thereby reversing his sacking by the Appeal Court.

The court returned 165,000 votes to the governor.

In September 2023, the election petition tribunal in the state deducted 165,663 votes from Yusuf’s total number of votes and declared them as “invalid”. 

The tribunal said it was satisfied that the ballot papers of the affected votes were not stamped or signed.

INEC had declared that Yusuf received 1,019,602 votes to defeat Nasiru Gawuna, who had 809,705 votes.

The election petition tribunal in the state nullified the victory of Yusuf, therefore, the New Nigeria’s Peoples Party (NNPP) candidate in the March 18 governorship election.

In turn, the tribunal affirmed Nasiru Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the duly elected governor of the state.

The tribunal ruling was upheld by the Court of Appeal in November 2023, saying Yusuf was not qualified to contest the election. 

The governor proceeded to the Supreme Court to seek redress.

Gawuna had also questioned the NNPP membership of Yusuf, arguing that the party should not have sponsored his election for the election.

But the apex court held that the tribunal never held that Governor Yusuf was not qualified to vie for election as erroneously held by the Court of Appeal.

The court described the issue of nomination as exclusively the internal affairs of a political party and therefore not justiciable.