On Friday, the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja nullified the election of Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State.

The appellate court, while upholding the earlier judgement of the Kano State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal which nullified Yusuf’s election, stated that the governor was not a valid candidate in the election that was held on March 18.

The court pointed out that the evidence that was brought before it established that Yusuf was not a member of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), the political party he claimed to have represented as a candidate at the time the election held.

At the tribunal, a three-member panel had held that some ballot papers that were relied upon to declare Yusuf as winner of the election were neither signed nor stamped by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

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It then declared 165,663 of the votes that were credited to the NNPP candidate as invalid. Yusuf has since informed his lawyers to proceed to the Supreme Court regarding the judgement of the Court of Appeal.

On Sunday, the Court of Appeal also removed PDP’s Caleb Muftwang, the incumbent Governor of Plateau State, from office.

The court upheld the findings of the Plateau State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue a new certificate of return to Nentawe Yilwatda of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

As a possible Supreme Court battle to determine the duly elected governors in Kano and Plateau looms, below are past governors sacked from office by the court since 1999.

CHRIS NGIGE (2005)

In August 2005, Chris Ngige, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) aspirant and then governor of Anambra State, was sacked from office by a tribunal sitting in Awka.

The tribunal declared Peter Obi of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) as winner of the election after evidence brought before the tribunal showed he had won the majority of votes cast during the exercise. Ngige’s removal was further upheld by an appeal court in March 2006.

CELESTINE OMEHIA (2007)

On October 25, 2007, Celestine Omehia, who had already spent five months in office as the Governor of Rivers State, was sacked by the Supreme Court.

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The apex court then went on to rule the matter in favour of Rotimi Amaechi. Amaechi had won the governorship ticket during the PDP primaries, but the party had substituted his name for Omehia’s at the last moment due to allegations of graft.

ANDY UBA (2007)

In 2007, Andy Uba of the PDP was elected as the Governor of Anambra State in 2007.

After spending just 17 days in office, however, he was removed by a Supreme Court ruling which stated that the tenure of Peter Obi of APGA as governor was yet to expire.

OSERHEIMEN OSUNBOR (2008)

In 2007, Oserheimen Osunbor of the PDP was declared winner of the Edo State governorship election.

However, the court invalidated the election that brought him to power in 2008 and ordered him to vacate the seat for the original winner, Adams Oshiomhole of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). 

OLUSEGUN AGAGU (2008)

In August 2008, the election of PDP’s Olusegun Agagu as Ondo Governor was nullified by the state’s election petitions tribunal.

The tribunal declared Olusegun Mimiko, the governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP), as winner of the 2007 election.

According to the tribunal, Mimiko won 198,269 votes out of the total number of votes cast, while Agagu won 128,669 votes.

OLUSEGUN ONI (2010)

Olusegun Oni of the PDP was elected as the Governor of Ekiti State in April 2007.

He was removed from office on October 15, 2010 by a Court of Appeal over massive vote rigging. The ruling saw Kayode Fayemi of the ACN assume office as governor.

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OLAGUNSOYE OYINLOLA (2010)

In November 2010, Olagunsoye Oyinlola of the PDP was sacked as the Governor of Osun State by an appeal court.

The court declared Rauf Aregbesola of the ACN as winner of the governorship election that was held in 2007, awarding him 198,799 votes against the ousted incumbent’s 172,880.

MUKHTAR SHEHU IDRIS (2019)

Mukhtar Shehu Idris of the APC was the governor-elect of Zamfara State in the 2019 election before the Supreme Court annulled his election five days to his inauguration.

The reason for his removal was that the APC was found not to have followed the due process while conducting its primaries.

Bello Matawalle of the PDP was then sworn-in as the governor of the state.

EMEKA IHEDIOHA (2020)

In January 2020, the Supreme Court nullified the election of Emeka Ihedioha of the PDP as the Governor of Imo State.

The apex court then declared Hope Uzodinma of the APC as the winner of the election that was held on March 9, 2019.

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The court was able to establish that the results in 388 polling units were unlawfully excluded during the collation of the final governorship election result in the state and this affected the total number of votes that were supposed to be in Uzodinma’s favour.

DAVID LYON (2020)

In February 2020, David Lyon of the APC was sacked as the Bayelsa State governor-elect by the Supreme Court.

Lyon, who won the November 2019 governorship election in the state, was to be sworn in when it was discovered that Degi Eremienyo Wangagra, his running mate, had submitted a fake certificate to INEC. The ruling then paved way for Douye Diri of the PDP to become the governor of the state.