APPEAL COURT: GOVERNOR YUSUF WAS NOT ELIGIBLE TO RUN FOR KANO GOVERNORSHIP

Babatunji Wusu –

The Kano State governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, was declared ineligible to run for governor in the March 18, 2023, governorship election by the Court of Appeal, which met on Friday in Abuja.

Yusuf was not a member of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) at the time of the elections, according to the Court of Appeal.

In order to run on the platform of the NNPP, which is headed by his political father and a presidential contender, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Yusuf left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The judges went on to say that Governor Yusuf, the appellant, should not have been disqualified by the tribunal.

Governor Yusuf was declared ineligible to run for governor in the state’s March 18 gubernatorial election by the three-member panel of justices.

It argued that evidence presented by the parties proved Governor Yusuf was not a part of the NNPP when the election was conducted.

The court claimed that because Yusuf was not legitimately sponsored by the NNPP, he was ineligible to run for governorship under section 177(c) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

In the lead ruling, Justice M. U. Adumeh of the court concluded that an individual cannot be sponsored for an election unless they are a member of a political party.

“Sponsorship on its own is like putting a bandage on nothing.”