Tribunal sacks Kano governor, declares APC’s Gawuna winner of 2023 gov election

The Kano State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal has sacked Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) and declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nasiru Gawuna, winner of the March 18 governorship poll in the state.

Reading of the judgment was transmitted virtually via Zoom, a teleconference service as the panel members were not physically in court.

The ruling came weeks after lawyers of both parties made their closing arguments on behalf of their clients on 21 August.

Recall the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared that the NNPP polled 1,019,602 votes to defeat the APC with its candidate, Nasir Gawuna, who scored 890,705 votes. The NNPP candidate thus won with a margin of 128,897 votes.

However, the APC filed a petition at the tribunal to challenge the results declared by the electoral body.

Yusuf, who contested on the platform of the NNPP was declared winner of the election by the INEC.

After the declaration by INEC, Gawauna congratulated Yusuf, but the All Progressives Congress headed to court to challenge the victory.

The three-man panel, on Wednesday, ordered the withdrawal of certificate of return which INEC presented to Yusuf, and directed a certificate of return to be issued to Gawuna.

The court deducted 165,663 votes from Yusuf as invalid, stating that the ballot papers (165,663) were not stamped or signed and therefore declared invalid.