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By Iheanyi Chukwudi
The Supreme Court of Nigeria on Friday, restored Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), as the valid winner of the Kano State governorship election held on March 18, 2023.
It reversed the judgement of the Court of Appeal, Abuja, which sacked the Kano State Governor from office.
The Abuja Court Appeal had affirmed the judgement of the Kano State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal which earlier declared the All Progressives Congress (APC's) Nasir Yusuf Gawuna, as the duly winner of the said governorship election in the state.
But delivering judgement on Friday, the apex court, in a unanimous decision by a five-member panel of Justices, vacated the concurrent judgements of the two lower courts, which sacked Governor Yusuf and declared Nasiru Gawuna of the APC, as winner of the gubernatorial poll.
The apex court in the lead judgement delivered by Justice Inyang Okoro, held that the two lower courts wrongly deducted valid votes that were credited to Governor Yusuf by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), holding that the 165,663 votes that were deducted from Yusuf and the NNPP on the premise that the ballot papers were not signed, stamped or dated, were valid.
It therefore, held that a total of 146, 292 of the ballot papers were confirmed to have been signed and stamped, only that they did not contain any date, contrary to the position of the lower courts.
The Supreme Court also held that by section 63(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, that ballot papers, which bore the official mark and was duly issued by INEC, were not totally invalid, adding that there was no evidence that Governor Yusuf influenced the non signing of the ballot papers.
Faulting the lower courts for nullifying Yusuf’s election on the premise that he was not a member of the NNPP, the apex court held that the issue of sponsorship of a candidate in an election was within the domestic affairs of a political party.
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