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(JUST IN)Kano: Appeal Court sacks Gov Yusuf, declares Gawuna as winner

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Kano State Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf has been sacked by the Court of Appeal in Abuja.

The tribunal, led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan Osadebay, fired Yusuf on September 20, 2023, and the panel maintained that decision.

The lower court had ruled that Yusuf’s 165,663 votes for the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) were unlawful because they were not signed or stamped by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The governor’s vote total was then cut to 853,939, while Nasir Ganuwa’s All Progressives Congress (APC) rival’s vote total remained at 890,705.

READ ALSO: Gov Yusuf gets approval for N4bn loan

Yusuf had appealed the tribunal’s decision, which he had termed as “unfair” and “a miscarriage of justice.”

Wole Olanipekun, SAN, representing Yusuf, sought the court to overturn the tribunal’s decision.

The senior lawyer said that the verdict on ballot papers was the first time in history that a tribunal would cancel an election due to non-signing of the back of vote papers.

He said the tribunal erred, adding that it was the first time a political party filed a case without including its candidate as a party in the petition, and the candidate was pronounced the victor of the election.

However, Akin Olujimi SAN, lawyer for the APC, maintained that the Appeal Court indicated unequivocally that not signing ballots constituted election fraud.

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