Heavily armed police officers are manning major road junctions across Kano metropolis as the state governorship election tribunal declares its verdict this Wednesday.

Police vehicles are stationed around Kano Government House and all roads leading to Miller Road; venue of the tribunal court as well as headquarters of the Kwankwasiyya Movement.

In anticipation of the likely outbreak of celebratory rallies after the verdict, Kano police command has banned all forms of political gatherings in the state.

The tribunal headed by Justice Halima Shamaki will issue its ruling on a suit filed by Abba Kabiru Yusuf of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) challenging the declaration of Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of the All Peoples Congress (APC) as the winner of the 2019 gubernatorial election in Kano.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Ganduje winner with 1,033,695 votes against Abba Yusuf who scored 1,024,713 after a rerun election.

INEC had cancelled the 9th March elections in 207 polling units in 28 local government areas of the state citing violence and over-voting and ordered a rerun. PDP’s Yusuf was leading APC’s Ganduje in the earlier election with a margin of 26,655 votes.

However, INEC, APC and Ganduje asked the court to dismiss PDP’s and Abba’s petition for lack of substance.