By Mohammed Taoheed
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has nullified the gubernatorial election of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State.
The court, in a joint decision by a three-member panel of justices, held on Friday that Governor Yusuf was not a valid candidate in the governorship election held in the state on March 18.
The appellate court stressed that evidence that was adduced by the parties established that Governor Yusuf was not a member of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) as of the time the election was conducted.
In the words of the court, the Governor, under section 177(c) of the 1999 Constitution, was not qualified to contest the election since he was not validly sponsored by the NNPP.
In its lead judgement that was delivered by Justice M. U. Adumeh, the court said that: “A person must be a member of a political party before he can be sponsored for an election.
“Sponsorship without membership is like putting something on nothing.”
Therefore, the court upheld the earlier judgement of the Kano state Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which nullified Governor Yusuf’s election.
Recall that the tribunal had in a virtual judgement it delivered on September 20, sacked governor Yusuf of the NNPP, from office and declared Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna of the All Progressive Congress, (APC) as the valid winner of the governorship poll held in the state on March 18.
