Residents took to the streets in celebration as the Kano State Governorship Election Tribunal sacked incumbent Abba Kabiru Yusuf as Kano State governor.
The three-man panel led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan-Osadebay started proceedings virtually a few minutes before 10:00 am transmitting at the Miller Road venue of the tribunal.
Reading of the judgment was transmitted virtually via Zoom, a teleconference service as the panel members were not physically in court.
The court invalidated Yusuf’s election as Kano State governor and declared candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Nasir Gawuna as the winner of the election.
The court directed the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC to withdraw the certificate of return earlier issued to Governor Yusuf and ordered INEC to issue a fresh certificate to the APC candidate.
Yusuf, who contested on the platform of the NNPP was declared winner of the election by the INEC.
INEC had declared that Yusuf polled 1,019,602 votes to defeat Gawuna, who scored 890,705 votes.
The court deducted 165,663 votes from Yusuf as invalid, stating that the ballot papers (165,663) were not stamped or signed and therefore declared invalid.