NNPP Asks Supreme Court To Reverse Kano Gov’s Sacking

NNPP Asks Supreme Court To Reverse Kano Gov’s Sacking

The New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) has approached the Supreme Court with an appeal claiming that certified true copies of last week’s Court of Appeal judgment on the Kano governorship election showed that Governor Abba Yusuf’s election victory was upheld.

The Court of Appeal had on Wednesday said the discrepancy between what was read out in the open court and the contents of the judgment’s CTC was a clerical error.

the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja had dismissed the appeal filed by Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), against the judgment of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal which declared the All Progressive Congress (APC) flagbearer, Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, as the winner of the state’s governorship poll held on March 18.

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

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.

But the APC, INEC and the NNPP also entered cross-appeals before the court, asking the appellate court to set aside the judgment.

In its judgment on Friday, the three-man panel of the appellate court held that the governor to his own detriment did not submit his NNPP membership register or even tendered his statement on oath regarding his membership of the party to INEC ahead of the poll.

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