The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved judgment in the appeal filed by the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) seeking to affirm its candidate, Abba Yusuf, as governor of Kano.
In September, the Kano state governorship election petition tribunal sacked Yusuf as governor of the state.
The tribunal deducted 165,663 votes from the 1,019,602 recorded for Yusuf because the ballot papers (165,663) were not stamped, signed and dated as required by law.
The tribunal then declared Yusuf Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner.
Displeased with the verdict, the NNPP and its candidate, challenged the judgment at the appellate court.
On November 17, the court of appeal upheld the tribunal’s verdict and added that Yusuf was not a member of the NNPP when he contested the election.
However, controversy trailed the verdict days later when a certified true copy (CTC) of the appeal court judgment surfaced, contradicting the November 17 ruling.
The copy of the judgment ruled against and in favour of the NNPP candidate simultaneously, eliciting outrage on social media platforms and the streets.
The appeal court had issued a statement hours later, blaming “clerical error” for the contradictions or discrepancies.
The NNPP then filed a notice of appeal before the supreme court, seeking to quash the appellate court’s judgment.
The APC on the other hand, filed a cross-appeal at the apex court, challenging the lower court for refusing to hold that Yusuf submitted a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The court said a date for judgment will be communicated to all parties (NAN)
