By Aminu Garko, Kano/Adeyemi Adeleye, Lagos
Nov. 18, 2023
Gov. Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State on Saturday announced his intention to head to the Supreme Court to challenge Friday’s Appeal Court dismissal of his appeal against his ouster by the Election Petition Tribunal.
“I hereby inform the people of Kano State and well-meaning Nigerians that based on consensus of our stakeholders we have instructed our lawyers to appeal against the judgment at the Supreme Court.
“We are optimistic that the Supreme Court will set aside these miscarriages of justice by the Election Petition Tribunal and the Appeal Court.
“We are also optimistic that the Supreme Court will reaffirm our mandate given by the people of Kano State,’’ he said in a statement issued by his media aide, Mr Bature Dawakin-Tofa.
Yusuf called on Kano State people to go about their legitimate businesses as government had taken necessary measures to ensure the security of their lives and properties as a cardinal responsibility.
He assured that the temporary setback would not deter his administration from its commitment to continue with its laudable projects and programmes to restore the lost glory of the state.
He said he would instead roll out more initiatives to deliver dividends of democracy to citizens and residents of Kano State.
Yusuf also called on the people of the state and other well-meaning Nigerians to continue to pray for Kano for God’s mercy and protection to save the state from injustice and from mischief makers.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja nullified Yusuf’s election on Friday in a unanimous ruling by the three-man panel on the ground that he was not a valid candidate in the March 18 gubernatorial election.
The court stated that evidence presented by parties convincingly established that Yusuf was not a member of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) at the time of the election.
It held that this made Yusuf ineligible to contest the governorship election under the 1999 Constitution as amended, since he was not validly sponsored by the NNPP.
“A person must be a member of a political party before he can be sponsored for an election.
“Sponsorship without membership is like putting something on nothing, Justice M. U. Adumeh, panel chairman stated while delivering the judgment.
The appellate court consequently affirmed the earlier judgment of the Kano State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which had nullified Yusuf’s election.
In a virtual judgment read on Sept. 20, the Election Petition Tribunal ousted Yusuf from office and declared Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the election.
The tribunal, led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan-Osadebay, determined that certain ballot papers, pivotal in declaring Yusuf as winner, lacked the necessary INEC signatures and stamps.
Consequently, 165,663 votes credited to the NNPP candidate were declared invalid.
After deducting the invalidated votes, Yusuf who was initially declared winner with 1,019,602 votes, saw his tally reduced to 853,939 votes.
In the turn of events, his closest rival, Gawuna, the APC candidate, emerged as the new winner with 890,705 votes.
Appeal Court judgment attempt to rob Kano majority—NNPP Chieftain
Meanwhile, a Lagos State Chieftain of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Mr. Adekunle Aderibigbe, has said that the Appeal Court verdict sacking Gov. Yusuf, was an attempt to rob Kano majority of their mandates.
Aderibigbe, also a Lagos State House of Assembly NNPP Candidate in the 2023 general elections told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the court should not be seen to tamper with the principle of majority, on which democracy stands.
He said: “The verdict passed by the Appeal Court to invalidate the membership of the elected governor of Kano State ridicules not just the major principle of democracy as the choice of the majority but also the importance of participation of citizens in the general elections.
“Gov. Abba Kabir Yusuf was never disputed as a member of the party by any member of NNPP up to the point of being elected, nor was he denied membership by the umpire, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“Questioning his party membership at this moment, eight months down the line of the election is not just evidence of a lack of substances to nullify the outcome of the election.”
According to him, there is no way the NNPP will not be exercising the right to be heard and getting justice by disputing the verdict at the Supreme Court.
The chieftain expressed the hope that the Supreme Court would reinstate Yusuf.
“The law will reinstate the rightful position and interests of the majority of Kano citizens as a primary democratic interest of one million Kanawas for the choice of Gov. Abba Kabir Yusuf over the pettiness of the preceding verdict.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that in an epochal judgment on Friday, the Appeal Court sitting in Abuja upheld the decision of the Kano State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal which sacked Yusuf earlier in September.
The appellate court, in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel of justices, held that Yusuf was not a valid candidate in the gubernatorial election that held in the state on March 18.
The justices stated that a proof of evidence that was tendered before the court, established that the governor was not a member of the NNPP, as at the time the election held.
Sponsorship without membership is like putting something on nothing,” the appellate court held in its lead judgment that was delivered by Justice M. U. Adumeh.
Consequently, the appellate court declared Nasiru Gawuna of the APC winner of the March 18, 2023 Kano state governorship election.
