The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), under whose umbrella Governor Abba Yusuf swept to victory in the March 18 governorship exercise, has rejected the Appeal Court judgment sacking the Kano leader.
In its Friday ruling, the court concurred with the judgment of the tribunal – two months ago – which ruled that the party’s fielding of Yusuf breached the Electoral Law as he was not qualified to contest that poll. It thus declared the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s Nasiru Gawuna as the winner of the election.
About one day after the judgment, the NNPP said it was surprised over the verdict on the governorship election in one of Nigeria’s key states and described it as “ridiculous”.
“To say the least, we were shocked at the miscarriage of justice delivered on Friday 17th of November, 2023 on the governorship election petition of Kano State,” NNPP’s Acting National Chairman Abba Ali told journalists at a Saturday news conference in Abuja.
“In spite of overwhelming evidence presented to the tribunal by our team of lawyers, the tribunal passed one of the most ridiculous judgments in the history of election jurisprudence in Nigeria and unjustly declared the APC candidate, who had never joined the petition, as the winner of the election.
“It is therefore unbelievable that the appeal court will refuse to look at the merit of our party’s appeal and cling to the erroneous issue of membership that has already been settled severally [sic] by both the appeal and Supreme Court.”
Already, Governor Yusuf, who unseated the ruling APC in the state to sweep to victory, has rejected the judgment sacking him. He labelled it a “miscarriage of justice”.
“After careful study and rigorous stakeholder engagement, my team and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), have decided to approach the Supreme Court on the miscarriage of justice, delivered by the Appeal Court, yesterday in Abuja,” he in a broadcast to residents of the North-West state in the wake of the judgment.
While heading to the apex court to contest the decision, Governor Yusuf is “optimistic that the Supreme Court will by the grace of Allahu SWT set aside these miscarriages of justice by the Tribunal and the Appeal Court, and reaffirm our mandate, as given by the good people of Kano State”.
The Appeal Court ruling is coming over six months after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Yusuf as the winner of the election.
Following the declaration, the APC candidate had conceded defeat to Yusuf, ascribing the move to his faith.
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