The All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate Nasiru Gawuna was proclaimed the victor of the March 18 governorship election by the Kano State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal on Wednesday, forcing the resignation of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf.
Zoom, a teleconference technology, was used to digitally relay the reading of the decision as the panel
After both parties’ solicitors presented their final arguments on behalf of their clients on August 21, the decision was made some weeks later.
APC candidate Nasir Gawuna received 890,705 votes, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), while the NNPP received 1,019,602 votes. Thus, the NNPP candidate prevailed with a 128,897 vote lead.
The APC, however, submitted an appeal to the tribunal challenging the results announced by the election board.
The INEC proclaimed Yusuf, who ran on the NNPP platform, the winner of the election.
Gawauna praised Yusuf after INEC’s announcement, but the All Progressives Congress went to court to contest the result.
On Wednesday, the three-person tribunal ruled that the certificate of return that INEC had given to Yusuf be withdrawn and that one be given to Gawuna instead.
The ballot papers (165,663) were not stamped or signed, thus the court considered them illegitimate and withdrew 165,663 votes from Yusuf.
