The Supreme Court has unanimously declared Governor Abba Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party as the rightful winner of the Kano State governorship election held on March 18, 2023.

The ruling, delivered by Justice Inyang Okoro, overturned the previous judgments of the Kano State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal and the Court of Appeal in Abuja.

The Supreme Court held that the lower courts made errors in deducting valid votes credited to Governor Yusuf by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The deduction of 165,663 votes, based on the argument that ballot papers were not signed, stamped, or dated, was deemed incorrect.

Contrary to the lower courts’ stance, the Supreme Court found that 146,292 of the contested ballot papers were indeed signed and stamped, even though they lacked a date.

According to section 63(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, the court emphasized that ballot papers with the official mark issued by INEC were not entirely invalid.

The court dismissed the notion that Governor Yusuf influenced the non-signing of the ballot papers, highlighting a lack of evidence supporting such claims.

Additionally, the court criticized the lower courts for nullifying Yusuf’s election on the grounds of his alleged non-membership in the NNPP, stating that party sponsorship was an internal matter.