Tribunal Judgment: Protest Hits Kano Over Gov Abba Sacking

The supporters of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and its governorship candidate, Abba Yusuf Kyari on Friday hit the streets in protest against the decision of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sacking the incumbent governor of the state.

Saturday Telegraph had on Wednesday reported that the tribunal declared the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nasir Gawuna as the winner of the March 18 election in the state, thereby sacking Governor Abba of the NNPP.

The three-man panel, led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan-Osadebay, withdrew the Certificate of Return the Independent National Electoral Commission  (INEC) presented to Yusuf.

This decision of the Tribunal had, however, led to the removal of Governor Yusuf Abba from his position.

It would be recalled that the INEC had declared that the NNPP polled 1,019,602 votes to defeat the APC, whose candidate scored 890,705 votes.

However, the tribunal pointed out that the margin of votes obtained by the NNPP was deemed invalid and did not align with the provisions of the 2022 Electoral Act. As a result, they deducted a total of 165,663 votes from the NNPP.

READ ALSO:

• Kano NNPP Governor-Elect Accuses Ganduje Of Frustrating Handover Processes
• Kano NNPP Asks A’Court To Nullify Doguwa’s Victory
• Kano NNPP alleges plan to arrest its leaders

The tribunal explained that these particular ballot papers, accounting for the deducted votes, lacked the required stamp or signature, rendering them invalid in accordance with the law.

Following the judgement, a 24-hour curfew was imposed by the state government on Wednesday.

But on Friday, New Telegraph gathered that supporters of the NNPP hit the street to vent their anger against the judgment, accusing the tribunal of injustice.

They had placards with various inscriptions such as “Gandollar, leave the judiciary alone”, “The people of Kano demand justice”, “It’s Abba that we want”, and among others.

The protesters called for a review of the judgment, adding that they would not accept any form of injustice from anybody.

“We voted for Abba, not any other person, therefore, nobody should ever think of going against our will,” they said.