Tribunal to deliver judgment in Kano guber dispute via Zoom

The Kano state governorship election tribunal is set to deliver judgment on the petition filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate Yusuf Gawuna.

However, the three-member panel of judges are not physically present in the courtroom and will deliver the judgment via Zoom, the video-telephony app.

At the commencement of the court session shortly before 10 am, Oluyemi Akintan-Osadebay, chairperson of the tribunal, spoke via Zoom.

Journalists, lawyers, party members and many others were denied access to the court.

Abba Yusuf, candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), was declared winner of the March 11 governorship poll.

He secured 1,019,602 votes to defeat his close rival, Yusuf Gawuna of the APC, who got 890,705 votes.

Not satisfied with the outcome of the election, Gawuna and his party filed a petition to challenge Yusuf’s victory.

There has been tension in the state since the tribunal reserved judgment, with members of the NNPP organising prayer sessions.

During one prayer session, Adamu Aliyu, who was at the time the commissioner for land in Kano, issued a threat to the judges of the governorship election petition tribunal.

Aliyu said any judge who decides to receive a bribe would pay with his or her life.

Flora Azinge, one of the judges on the panel, had also raised an alarm over attempts by some lawyers to compromise the integrity of the tribunal.