BREAKING: NNPP wins Kano governorship election at Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has affirmed the election of Kabir Yusuf of Kano State on the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, setting aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Abuja which nullified his election.

A panel of five justices on Friday unanimously submitted that the Court of Appeal misunderstood the import of the purported deduction of 165,616 ballot papers in favour of Governor Yusuf.

Justice Inyang Okoro who led the judgment submitted that the issue of Governor Yusuf’s membership was a pre-election matter, and was not within the jurisdiction of the appealate court to decide.

He said the finding that by the virtue of Section 177(c) of the Nigerian Constitution and Section 134(1) of the Electoral Act, Governor Yusuf was not sponsored by the NNPP, was not a finding of the electoral tribunal but a mere observation that his name was not contained in the membership list.

“This court has consistently maintained that the issue of nomination or sponsorship of a candidate for an election is completely an exclusive prerogative of the political party,” he held.