As part of his appeal, Governor Yusuf requests that the tribunal’s decision be overturned.

Governor Abba Kabiru Yusuf of Kano has filed an appeal with the Court of Appeal, Kano Division, seeking to overturn the ruling of the Kano Governorship Election Petition Tribunal that nullified his win in the March 18th election.

In addition to the nullification of Governor Yusuf’s electoral triumph, the tribunal headed by Justice Oluyemi Akintan-Osadebay, consisting of three members, rendered a verdict on September 20, 2023. The tribunal declared Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the legitimate victor of the Governorship election and ordered his official declaration as the elected candidate.

The tribunal has mandated the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to revoke the certificate of return that was previously granted to Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and instead give a new certificate of return to Gawuna of the APC.

Governor Yusuf, represented by his legal counsel Wole Olanipekun and Co., expressed discontent with the ruling of the lower court and subsequently filed an appeal. The appeal seeks the intervention of the appellate courts to dismiss or strike out the petition filed by the APC, identified by case file EPT/KN/GOV/01/2023.

Governor Yusuf, acting as the only appellant in the court of appeal, aligned himself with the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), referred to as the first, second, and third respondents, respectively.

The appeal was officially submitted on October 2, 2023 and was duly served to all relevant parties, as outlined in the documents referenced by The Guardian. It contested the tribunal’s ruling on 43 significant reasons and sought three specific remedies.

The appellant criticized the ruling of the lower court, which involved the invalidation of 165,616 votes. The appellant argued that the lower court failed to consider that comparable ballots had been counted in favor of the petitioner.

In an alternate scenario, Governor Yusuf maintains that the tribunal committed a legal error and rendered a ruling that was unjustifiably biased, as it directed INEC to revoke his certificate of return without considering the principle of margin of lead between him and the petitioner.

As per the appellant’s assertion, the tribunal recorded a cumulative count of 268,565 PVCs collected, specifically focusing on the concerned polling units ranging from P44 to P79, as well as P81 to P93. The individual contended that due to the aggregation of votes from the two dominant political parties, further deductions and final calculations resulted in a margin of 36,719 votes. Consequently, they maintained that the election should have been deemed inconclusive.

The tribunal has overturned Governor Yusuf’s victory, as it has upheld the petitioner’s second relief to announce their candidate as the winner. This decision was made on the grounds that over 200,000 ballots cast for the NNPP candidate were deemed unlawful due to the absence of proper signatures, stamps, and dates on the ballots.

The appellant is presenting his appeal with a legal team consisting of five counsels, two of whom are Senior Advocates. This appeal is being made against a group of 20 attorneys, including five Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), who were involved in the election petition tribunal. The tribunal process concluded within a period of less than 180 days and ultimately ruled in favor of the petitioner.