The Court of Appeal, seated in Abuja, on Monday, postponed its judgement in the appeal filed by Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, contesting his removal by the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal.
Yusuf was fired as the Governor of Kano State on September 20, 2023, by a three-judge panel presided over by Justice Oluyemi Akintan Osadebay.
Yusuf received 165,663 votes, but the Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC, did not sign or stamp them, so the tribunal ruled that they were invalid.
Yusuf’s lead attorney, Wole Olanipekun, SAN, on Monday, requested that the tribunal’s ruling be overturned at the appeals court.
The senior attorney stated that this is the first time in history that an election has been void by a tribunal due to ballots not being signed on the back.
He claimed that the tribunal erred, that it was the first time that a political party filed a case without including its candidate as a party in the petition, and that the candidate was declared the winner of the election.
However, Akin Olujimi, SAN, counsel for the APC, countered that the Appeal Courts stated unequivocally that not signing ballots constituted electoral malpractice.
Following that, the appeal court panel reserved judegment, informing the parties that a date would be communicated to them.
cc: Daily Post Ng
