Kano: Yusuf ‘Not Qualified To Contest’ – APC Petitions Tribunal

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kano State has filed a petition before the Kano Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.

The ruling party in the state is challenging the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for declaring the governorship candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Abba Kabir Yusuf winner of the March 18 election.

APC in the petition alleged that Yusuf is not qualified to contest the election on the grounds that his name was not on the list of members of NNPP sent to INEC.

However, the governorship candidate of the APC, Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna was not joined as a party in the petition.

The parties involved are the APC as the petitioner while NNPP, Yusuf and INEC are 1st, 2nd and 3rd respondents respectively.

The returning officer, Professor Ahmad Doko Ibrahim while announcing the final result in the governorship election declared that Yusuf polled 1,019,602 while the candidate of the APC, Gawuna polled 890,705 to come second.

APC also alleged that NNPP did not win the election with the majority of lawful votes, arguing that some of the votes cast for NNPP were invalid and if removed, APC would have the highest number of votes cast.

It also alleged that the Kano Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) was wrong for declaring Yusuf the winner, arguing that the margin of lead was not higher than the votes cancelled, adding that the election ought to be declared inconclusive.

The petitioner is asking the tribunal to declare that NNPP has no candidate, claiming that Yusuf is not in the party’s members’ list submitted to INEC at the time of the election.

The petitioner asked the court to declare either Gawuna or APC as the winner of the election having scored the highest votes cast if the alleged invalid votes were removed from NNPP scores.

In the alternative, the petitioner is praying for the tribunal to declare the election inconclusive, alleging that the margin of lead is not more than the votes cancelled.

The respondents have 21 days to respond to the petition after court processes are served on them.