The All Progressives Congress, (APC) Kano Chapter has filed a petition before a Kano Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, challenging the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for declaring Abba Kabir Yusuf of New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), winner of the election that was conducted in the state on 18th March 2023.
The petitioner, (APC) in a five-volume petition filed before the Tribunal is alleging that, Abba Kabir Yusuf was not qualified to contest the election on the ground that his name was not in the list of members of NNPP sent to INEC.
The Petitioner, further alleged that NNPP didn’t win the election with the majority of lawful votes, arguing that some of the votes cast for them are invalid and if removed from their scores, APC will have the highest number of votes cast.
In the petition, APC also alleged that the Kano Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) was wrong for declaring Abba Yusuf the winner, arguing that the margin of lead is not higher than the votes cancelled, as it explained that the election ought to be declared inconclusive.
The Petitioner is asking the Tribunal to declare that NNPP has no candidate as Abba Kabir Yusuf is not in their register of voters submitted to INEC at the time of the election, asking the court to declare that Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna as the winner, or to declare APC as the winner of the election having scored the highest votes cast if the invalid votes are removed from the lawful scores of NNPP.
The Petitioner is similarly praying to the Tribunal in the alternative to declaring the election as inconclusive, alleging that the margin of lead is not more than the votes cancelled.
It was gathered that the APC Gubernatorial Candidate, Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna was not joined as a party in the petition, this may not be unconnected with his stand of accepting his destiny after the election was declared not in his favour.
The Parties involved in the petition are APC as the Petitioner and on the other hand, NNPP, Abba Kabir Yusuf and INEC as 1st, 2nd and 3rd Respondents respectively.
Meanwhile, it was also gathered that, according to the rule of the Tribunal, the Respondents have 21 days to respond to the petition after court processes served on them.
The Kano APC Legal adviser, Barr. Abdul Adamu Fagge said the court has granted the APC an exparte motion to inspect the governorship election materials in all the 44 LGAs of the state.
