The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, on Friday, upheld the verdict of the Election Petitions Tribunal sacking Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State and affirmed Dr Nasiru Gawuna as the winner of the governorship election in the state .
In a unanimous decision by a three-member panel of justices, the appellate court held that Governor Yusuf was not a valid candidate in the gubernatorial election held in the state on March 18.
According to the appellate court, the 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.
In its lead judgment delivered by a Justice of the Court of Appeal (JCA), Justice M. U. Adumeh, the appellate court said, “A person must be a member of a political party before he can be sponsored for an election.
“Sponsorship without membership is like putting something on nothing.”
The court decision came nearly two months after the Kano Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, on September 20, sacked Yusuf and declared the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Dr Nasiru Gawuna, as the winner of the March 18 election.
Yusuf, who contested on the platform of the NNPP, was declared the winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after the poll in March.
It is important to note that though Gawuna congratulated Yusuf after the INEC’s presentation of certificate of return to him, the APC later challenged the outcome of the governorship poll at the Election Petitions Tribunal.
In its judgment over the matter, tribunal sacked Yusuf and declared Gawuna as the winner of poll.
The tribunal also deducted 165,663 votes from Yusuf’s total as invalid votes on the grounds that the affected ballot papers were not stamped or signed and therefore declared invalid.
