The Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, on Friday, upheld the judgement of the tribunal, which sacked the Governor of Kano State, Governor Abba Yusuf.
The appellate court also declared the candidate of the All Progressive Congress in the March 18 governorship election, Nasiru Gawuna as the winner of the poll.
News About Nigeria recalls that in its ruling, the tribunal, led by Justice Oluyemi Osadebay, had nullified the election of Governor Abba Yusuf by declaring that 165,663 of his votes were invalid.
According to the tribunal, the votes were voided because the ballot papers were not signed nor stamped by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Following the tribunal’s verdict sacking him from office, Yusuf appealed against the judgment.
The three-member panel of the appeal court led by Justice M.A Adumeh in their judgement held that Yusuf was not qualified to contest the election as his name was not in the membership register of his political party.
According to Adumeh, the Electoral Act made it compulsory for candidates to be duly registered to be qualified to run for an election.
The Court also held that, according to Section 177(c) of the constitution, when a party carelessly nominates a candidate irrespective of whether he performs well, such candidate will be disqualified.
The appellate court also explained that sponsoring a candidate does not mean that the candidate who is not a registered member of a party will automatically become a member.
Adumeh further described such action as “putting nothing on something, which will definitely not stand.”
He also awarded a million naira in favour of the first respondent against the appellant.
