The Court of Appeal in Abuja has fixed Friday, November 17, for judgment in an appeal before it by the governor of Kano State and candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, Abba Yusuf.
The Kano State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal on September 20 sacked the governor and declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Nasiru Gawuna, winner of the March 18 governorship poll.
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Dissatisfied by the lower tribunal’s decision, the governor, through his counsel, Wole Olanipekun, asked the appellate court to set aside the judgment of the tribunal.
While disagreeing on the tribunal’s ruling on deducting over 165,000 votes from the governor, the senior lawyer said this was the first time in history that a tribunal would annul an election over the non-signing of the back of ballot papers.
He stated that the tribunal erred. He argued further that that was the first time a political party would file a matter without joining its candidate as a party in the petition, and the candidate would be declared the winner of the polls.
Counsel for the All Progressives Congress, APC, Akin Olujimi, however, countered him, saying the appeal court stated emphatically that the non-signing of ballots amounted to electoral malpractice.