By Anamati Inyang, November 15, 2025
The National and State House of Assembly Elections Petition Tribunal sitting in Kano has nullified the election of Muktar Umar Yerima of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP.
The tribunal further ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to withdraw the certificate of return earlier issued to Yerima.
The petition was filed by Hafizu Kawu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, who challenged Yerima’s qualification to contest the election.
Yerima was initially declared the winner of the Tarauni Federal Constituency seat by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
According to a report by Daily Trust, the three man panel of the tribunal led by Justice I P Chima ruled that Yerima was not qualified to run for office because he forged his primary school certificate.
The tribunal also noted that Yerima’s claim of a change of name in 2022 was not credible, especially since he had been using the name Umar Mukhtar Zakari on his international passports since 2009, while the primary school certificate he tendered still bore the name Umar Mukhtar.
In addition, Hausawa Primary School reportedly disowned the certificate presented by the sacked lawmaker.
With these findings, the tribunal ruled that the NNPP had no valid candidate in the election.
