The Supreme Court of Nigeria has delivered its final verdict on the suit challenging the election of Abba Yusuf as Governor of Kano State.
The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the Court of Appeal and the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, which sacked Yusuf on Friday.
Justice John Okoro, who read the lead judgement, said the Court of Appeal was wrong in affirming the decision of the tribunal, which held that Yusuf did not win the majority of lawful votes cast in the governorship election of March 18, 2023.
In determining the case, the apex court raised two issues: whether the lower court was right in deducting 165,616 from the votes the Independent National Electoral Commission announced for the governor and whether the lower court could determine the issue of party membership.
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In the judgement, Justice Okoro held that the tribunal was wrong in deducting 165,616 votes accrued to Yusuf in the election because the ballot papers were not signed and stamped by officials of INEC.
According to him, Section 71 of the Electoral Act relied upon by the tribunal to deduct the disputed votes does not apply in the instant case.
The Supreme Court Panel of five Justices subsequently went ahead to restore the deducted 165,616 votes to reinstate the victory of Yusuf in the governorship election.
Also, it again faulted the Court of Appeal for holding that Yusuf was not a member of the NNPP as of the time he contested the election, adding that the issue of nomination and sponsorship is a pre-election matter and outside the jurisdiction of the court.
Justice Okoro observed that contrary to the appellate court, the tribunal never held that Yusuf was not qualified to contest the poll but that his name was not in the NNPP’s membership register submitted to INEC.
The apex court subsequently set aside the judgement of the two lower courts for being “perverse” and restored the electoral victory of the Governor.
