The three-man panel, led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan-Osadebay, further withdrew the Certificate of Return the Independent National Electoral Commission presented to Yusuf.
Some residents of Kano State on Friday protested against the judgment of the election petition tribunal, which sacked Governor Yusuf Abba as winner of the 2023 gubernatorial poll in the state.
The Kano State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal had on Wednesday, sacked Abba, and declared the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Nasir Gawuna, winner of the March 18 governorship poll.
The three-man panel, led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan-Osadebay, further withdrew the Certificate of Return the Independent National Electoral Commission presented to Yusuf.
Stating reasons why the Kano governor was sacked, the panel said the margin of votes scored by NNPP was invalid and not in compliance with the 2022 electoral act.
The judges deducted 165,663 votes from the NNPP, adding that the ballot papers of the 165,663 were not stamped or signed and therefore declared invalid.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared that the NNPP polled 1,019,602 votes to defeat the APC whose candidate scored 890,705 votes.
The NNPP candidate thus won with a margin of 128,897 votes.
The state government immediately declared a 24-hour curfew in the state to avoid a breakdown of law and order following the judgment.
However, on Friday, residents of the state and members of New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) trooped out en masse to vent their anger against the judgment, accusing the tribunal of injustice.
Armed with placards with various inscriptions such as “Gandollar, leave the judiciary alone”, “The people of Kano demand justice”, “It’s Abba that we want” and among others, the protesters called for a review of the judgment.
They added that they would not accept any form of injustice from anybody.
“We voted for Abba, not any other person, therefore nobody should ever think of going against our will,” they said.