From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
All Progressives Congress (APC) has asked the Kano State Election Petition Tribunal to nullify the election of Abba Kabir Yusuf, of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) as governor-elect on the grounds of alleged non-qualification to contest the election.
The party is contending that Yusuf was not a member of the party (NNPP) as at the time the election was conducted.
In its petition, APC argued that a political party can only sponsor a person who is its member for the elective office and that a person who is not a member of the political party is not qualified to contest election to the office of governor.
The APC said Yusuf was not validly and duly nominated by the NNPP before being presented as candidate for the election.
The party said NNPP could not have validly sponsored Yusuf who was not its registered member and whose name was not on the register of members before the primary in compliance with the relevant provision of the Electoral Act, 2022.
The APC urged the tribunal to set aside his election and declare its candidate, Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, as winner having scored the highest number of votes.
The petitioner said: “In Part A of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Form EC 9 – Affidavit of Personal Particular of the 2nd respondent submitted to the 1st respondent reflects that the membership number of the 2nd respondent is NNPP/HQ/KN/GWL/DS/001.
“No such number is contained in the 3rd respondent’s (NNPP) register of members. The plan of the 2nd respondent (Yusuf) to provide a conscripted membership card is a failed attempt to claim membership of the 3rd respondent to mislead the 1st respondent (INEC) that the 2nd respondent possessed the constitutional qualification to contest the election into the office of the governor of Kano State, while, indeed, he was not qualified to contest the election, being not a member of the political party that sponsored his election.
“Your petitioner says the affidavit of personal particulars wherein the 2nd respondent claims membership of the 3rd respondent as member No. NNPP/HQ/KN/GWL/DISO/001 is a false certificate because no such membership number or name exist in the register of the 3rd respondent.
“The petitioner avers that the 2nd respondent, not being a registered member of the 3rd respondent, could not validly have been sponsored by the 3rd respondent as its candidate for Kano State governorship elections held on March 18, 2023. The membership number stated in Part A of the said INEC EC 9 are not those of the 2nd respondent nor does he have any at any point material in time to the fact of this petition.
“The petitioner contends that all the votes 1,019,602 votes recorded for the 2nd and 3rd respondents on Saturday, March 18, 2023 in respect thereof are null, void and wasted votes; as the 2nd respondent is/was not qualified to contest the said election in the first place.
“That the petitioner’s candidate is, therefore, entitled to be declared the winner of the election, being the candidate with the highest number of lawful votes cast.
“The 2nd respondent was not duly elected by majority of lawful votes cast at the election,” the party said.
Meanwhile, APC has faulted the total vote scored by the Kano State governor-elect, Abba Kabir Yusuf of NNPP.
The party claimed that contrary to the score released by INEC, Yusuf scored only 178,374 votes in the last governorship election in the state and shouldn’t have been declared the winner.
The electoral umpire said the NNPP candidate scored a total of 1,019,602 votes while it said the candidate of the APC, Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, scored 890,705.
But the party, in its petition before the state election petition tribunal, said NNPP and its candidate had 896,022 unlawful votes during the election and if subtracted from the 1,019,602 will leave him with 178,374 votes.
The party alleged that unlawful ballot papers that did not have the signature, stamp and date of the election were used in casting votes for the 2nd Respondent.
According to the party, the unlawful ballot papers without signature, stamp and dates were used in 32 local government of the state during the conduct of the election.