Kano guber poll: Abba Gida-Gida ‘not qualified to contest’, APC petitions tribunal

The Kano State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has filed a petition before a Kano Governorship Election Petition Tribunal challenging the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for declaring Abba Kabir Yusuf of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) winner of the March 18 election.

The petitioner in a five volume petition is alleging that Yusuf, popularly known as Abba Gida-Gida, was 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 Gubernatorial 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.

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Daily Trust reported that Gawuna had accepted his fate after the results were announced.

In the final results announced by the returning officer, Professor Ahmad Doko Ibrahim, Yusuf polled 1,019,602 while the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nasir Yusuf 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 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 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 served on them.