Tribunal verdict: Stay peaceful, you’re protected, Ganduje tells Kano people

National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje has reacted to Wednesday’s judgment of the Kano state Governorship Elections Tribunal, which affirmed the APC candidate in the 2023 election, Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna as validly elected.

Justice Oluyemi Akintan-Osadebay delivered the judgment via zoom.

Recall that the APC had challenged the declaration of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of the New Nigeria People’s Party, NNPP as the winner of the March 18th, 2023 governorship election.

Speaking at his residence in Abuja, Ganduje who was flanked by Gawuna and a former Governor of the state, Senator Kabir Gaya, urged the people of Kano to remain peaceful.

Why Tribunal sacked Kano gov, Abba Yusuf
In the judgment delivered, the three-man panel led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan-Osadebay ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the certificate of return that it presented to Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).

The tribunal also asked the electoral body to issue a certificate of return to Gawuna.

Stating the reason Yusuf was sacked, the tribunal said that a total of 165,663 ballot papers from the governor’s votes were not stamped and declared invalid.

It, then, deducted 165,663 votes from Yusuf as invalid, which made Gawuna to be declared the winner of the election in March.

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

Recall that INEC had declared that the NNPP polled 1,019,602 votes to defeat the APC with its candidate, 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 the winner of the election by the INEC.

Meanwhile, the tribunal has dismissed the petition filed by the APC and its candidate, Gawuana, challenging the legitimacy of the candidature of Governor Yusuf.

The court announced that the matter of candidacy is an internal issue of the party, so it does not affect the plaintiffs, let alone interfere in it.

APC and Gawuna had petitioned the tribunal that Yusuf was not a full member of the NNPP, and he was not in its register when it nominated him, so he was not fit to contest.