The declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that Abba Kabir Yusuf of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) won the governorship election held on March 18, 2023 has been challenged in a petition filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kano State before the Kano Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.
The petitioner, on Wednesday, claimed in a five-volume petition filed by the APC that Yusuf was ineligible to run in the election since his name did not appear on the list of NNPP members given to INEC.
In addition, the petitioner claimed that NNPP did not win the election with the majority of valid votes, contending that some of the ballots cast for them were invalid and that if those votes were subtracted from their totals, APC would have received the most votes.
The APC also argued in the appeal that Yusuf was incorrectly proclaimed the winner and that the election should have been declared inconclusive because the margin of victory was not greater than the number of votes that were canceled.
The petitioner is requesting that the Tribunal rule that the NNPP lacks a candidate because Yusuf was not included on the voter list that the NNPP provided to INEC in time for the election.
The APC asked the court to declare Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna as the winner or to declare APC as the winner of the election having scored the highest votes cast if the invalid votes are removed from the lawful scores of NNPP.
The petitioner is similarly praying to the Tribunal in the alternative to declare the election as inconclusive, alleging that the margin of lead is not more than the votes cancelled.
The petition’s petitioner is the APC, while the first, second, and third respondents are NNPP, Yusuf, and INEC, respectively.
The respondents have 21 days after receiving court documents to respond to the petition, according the Tribunal’s norm.
