The national chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje was in suspense on Friday after the Supreme Court set aside the Tribunal and Appeal Court judgment on the governorship election petition in Kano and affirmed the victory of Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf of The New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) as the duly elected Governor of Kano State.
A five-member panel of justices on Friday unanimously held that the lower courts misunderstood the import of the purported deduction of 165,616 ballot papers in favour of Governor Yusuf.
The lead judgment by Justice Inyang Okoro also held that the issue of Governor Yusuf’s membership was a pre-election matter.
He said the finding that by the virtue of Section 177(c) of the Nigerian Constitution and Section 134(1) of the Electoral Act, Governor Yusuf was not sponsored by the NNPP, was not a finding of the electoral tribunal but a mere observation that his name was not contained in the membership list
“This court has consistently maintained that the issue of nomination or sponsorship of a candidate for an election is completely an exclusive prerogative of the political party,” he stated.
Ganduje had hoped to bounce back to reckoning with the hope that the Supreme Court would dismiss Yusuf, a protege of his avowed political foe, Senator Rabiu Kwakwanso.
