Court Reserves Judgment In Abba Yusuf’s Appeal Against Kano Tribunal Verdict
The Appeal Court sitting in Abuja has reserved judgment in 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, governor-elect.
Interestingly, the lead counsels digging it out before the appellate court on Monday were part of the legal team that defended President Bola Tinubu during the Presidential Election Petition Court sitting in Abuja.
Recall that the three-man panel of the Tribunal led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan Osadebay had sacked Yusuf on September 20, 2023, after deducting 165,663 of his votes.
The Independent National Electronic Electoral Commission (INEC) had announced Yusuf winner of the March 18, 2023 election, saying he garnered 1,019,602 votes to defeat Gawuna who got 890,705 of the votes cast.
But the APC approached the Tribunal, citing alleged electoral malpractice.
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 governor then filed an appeal before the appellate court.
The APC, INEC and the NNPP also entered cross-appeals before the court.
- Related: BREAKING: Tribunal Sacks Gov Yusuf Abba, Declares Gawuna Of APC Winner
- Gov Abba Yusuf To Appeal Tribunal Judgement
On Monday, the governor’s lead counsel, Wole Olanipekun SAN (who was lead counsel for Tinubu at the PEPC), urged the court to allow the appellant’s appeal and set aside in its entirety, the judgement of the lower Tribunal.
Olanipekun argued that the lower Tribunal has created new precedents which depart from all the judgments made by the appellate or Supreme Court.