The All Progressives Congress (APC) was declared the winner of the March 18 election by the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Kano State, which also removed the state’s governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) proclaimed Yusuf, who ran on the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) platform, the victor of the election.
But on Wednesday, the panel overturned INEC’s declaration and proclaimed Nasir Gawuna the winner.
The three-man panel instructed the issuance of a certificate of return to Gawuna and ordered the revocation of the certificate of return that INEC had handed to Governor Yusuf.
The ballots (165,663) were not stamped or signed, thus the court ruled that they were illegitimate and subtracted them from Gov. Yusuf’s overall vote count.
The grounds include Gov. Yusuf of the NNPP’s membership, noncompliance with the Electoral Act, and the total number of legitimate votes (invalid ballots were utilized during the election).
NNPP has reacted angrily to the ruling and announced that it will appeal it.