The Supreme Court has scheduled Thursday, December 21, 2023, for the commencement of the hearing over the Kano governorship election petition involving the incumbent governor, Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), and the candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Alhaji Nasiru Gawuna Yusuf.
This information was conveyed in a notice issued to both parties by the Apex Court.
It is noteworthy that on November 17th, the Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the election petition tribunal, which nullified Governor Abba Yusuf’s victory and declared the APC candidate, Dr. Nasiru Gawuna, as the winner.
The three-member panel of the appeal court dismissed the appeal filed by Governor Yusuf due to issues regarding his membership status within his party.
However, confusion arose on Tuesday, November 21, 2023, when the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the court judgement, appearing four days after the delivery of the judgement, revealed inconsistencies in the conclusions.
In the lead judgement delivered by Justice Moore Adumein, one of the concluding paragraphs on Page 68 stated, ‘I will conclude by stating that the live issues in this appeal are hereby resolved in favour of the 1st respondent and against the appellant.’
Dissatisfied with the judgement based on this and other grounds, the NNPP filed a notice of appeal before the Supreme Court to challenge the November 17 judgement of the Court of Appeal, which upheld the decision of the Election Petition Tribunal, nullifying Governor Abba Yusuf’s victory and declaring Dr. Nasiru Gawuna of the APC as the duly elected governor of Kano State.
