Kano State Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf has been sacked by the Court of Appeal in Abuja.
The tribunal, led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan Osadebay, sacked Yusuf on September 20, 2023, and the panel upheld that decision.
The lower court had ruled that Yusuf's 165,663 votes for the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) were invalid because they were not signed or stamped by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The governor's vote total was then reduced to 853,939, while Nasir Ganuwa's All Progressives Congress (APC) rival's vote total remained at 890,705.
Yusuf had appealed the tribunal's decision, which he had described as "unfair" and "a miscarriage of justice."
Wole Olanipekun, SAN, representing Yusuf, asked the court to overturn the tribunal's decision.
The senior lawyer argued that the ruling on ballot papers was the first time in history that a tribunal would annul an election due to non-signing of the back of ballot papers.
He claimed the tribunal erred, adding that it was the first time a political party filed a case without including its candidate as a party in the petition, and the candidate was declared the winner of the election.
However, Akin Olujimi SAN, counsel for the APC, countered that the Appeal Court stated unequivocally that not signing ballots constituted electoral malpractice.
