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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
Supreme Court has affirmed Abba Yusuf as the duly elected governor of Kano State.
Justice John Okoro, who read the lead judgement, held that the Appeal Court was wrong in its judgement to have deducted 165,616 votes from the vote secured by the governor.
Justice Okoro held that the respondents failed to prove their claims that the 165,616 ballot papers were not from INEC.
“By virtue of section 63(1) of the Electoral Act, before a ballot paper can be declared invalid, it must be proven that it was not given to the presiding officer.
“The ballot papers in question were both signed and stamped, the only feature left out was the date,” the court held.
The apex court subsequently ordered that the 165,616 ballot papers should be added to the votes secured by Yusuf.
Justice Okoro also said the lower court was wrong in declaring that the governor was not a member of the NNPP.
“The issue of nomination of a candidate is a pre-election matter and no political party can interfere with how another party nominates its candidates,” he said.
Justice Okoro also urged judges to be meticulous in doing their jobs to “avoid the mess that happened at the appellate court.”
Details later…….