The Court of Appeal in Abuja has held back its judgment in the appeal filed by Kano State Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf from the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) against the decision of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal that declared Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, the flagbearer of the All Progressive Congress (APC), as the winner of the election.
On September 20, 2023, a three-member panel of the Tribunal, led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan Osadebay, removed Yusuf from office after deducting 165,663 votes from his tally.
The Independent National Electronic Electoral Commission (INEC) had initially declared Yusuf as the winner of the March 18, 2023 election, with 1,019,602 votes, defeating Gawuna who garnered 890,705 votes. However, the APC contested the results, alleging electoral malpractice.
The Tribunal, concurring with the APC, nullified Yusuf’s election, citing over 160,000 unsigned or unstamped ballot papers by INEC. This reduced Yusuf’s vote count to 853,939, while Gawuna’s 890,705 votes remained unaffected.
Subsequently, Governor Yusuf lodged an appeal with the Court of Appeal. The APC, INEC, and the NNPP also filed cross-appeals before the court.
During Monday’s proceedings, Wole Olanipekun SAN, the lead counsel for the governor, requested the court to consider the appellant’s appeal and completely overturn the Tribunal’s judgment. Olanipekun argued that the Tribunal set new precedents that deviated from previous appellate and Supreme Court decisions. He specifically contested the annulment of the election over unsigned ballot papers, a first in the court’s history.
Olanipekun also raised the issue of a political party filing a matter without involving its candidate in the petition, only to have the candidate declared the election winner. He argued that the lower Tribunal’s judgment should not be upheld.
Akin Olujimi SAN, counsel for the APC, responded to the matter of valid ballots, asserting that decisions from the Appeal Courts since 2009 had consistently considered non-signing of ballots as electoral malpractice. He emphasized that INEC regulations require presiding officers to sign and date the back of ballot papers, and failing to do so amounts to non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
Regarding the APC candidate not being joined as a party in the Tribunal, Olujimi argued that votes are cast for the party as a whole, and any decision affecting a political party encompasses all its members.
The Court of Appeal reserved judgment in the appeal and indicated that the date for delivering the judgment would be communicated to the parties.
In the APC’s cross-appeal, Olujimi urged the court to determine whether the Kano State governor was indeed a member of the NNPP at the time he was sponsored by the party. A.B Mahmoud SAN, counsel for INEC, called for the dismissal of the APC’s cross-appeal, citing a lack of merit.
