By Ken Afor
Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, in his reaction to the judgment delivered on Wednesday by the governorship election petition tribunal in the state faulted the ruling of the three-man panel of judges.
It would be recalled that the tribunal ruled against the state governor and his party, the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) and declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nasir Gawuna, winner of the election.
The court in its ruling deducted 165,663 votes from Gov Yusuf’s total as invalid votes.
According to the court, the 165,663 ballot papers which gave Governor Yusuf the upper hand were not stamped or signed by polling officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and were therefore declared invalid.
The APC in their petition questioned the authenticity of governor Yusuf as a member of the NNPP and also raised the issue of compliance with the Electoral Act and total lawful votes (invalid ballot papers used in the election).
All three grounds of the petition were resolved in favour of APC.
However, the governor shortly after the judgment was delivered took to his X account to fault the outcome of the ruling.
The governor who was sworn in four months ago said the decision of the tribunal may not be absolutely perfect as there are errors and misapplication of the law pointed out by his legal team.
The Governor said the party will appeal the judgment in pursuit of justice.
He said, “My good people of Kano State! You would recall that on March 18, 2023, you came out en masse and voted for me as your Governor with a total votes of 1,019,602 and a margin of 128,897 votes between myself and second place.
“Subsequently, I was duly sworn-in as your elected governor on May 29, 2023. You may also recall that the party that lost the election took us to court.
“However, after almost six months of proceedings at the governorship election petition tribunal, today Wednesday, September 20, 2023, the judges of the tribunal have in their own wisdom delivered their ruling.
“As human beings, their judgement may not be absolutely perfect, there are errors and misapplication of the law as pointed out by our legal team. That is why our constitution provides for other stages to go on with such as the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.
“On this note, we have already instructed our legal team to appeal this judgement as soon as possible to ensure that justice is done.
“I therefore call on all the good people of Kano State to be calm and remain law-abiding. People should not take the law into their hands, and security agents have already been directed to ensure the full protection of lives and property of innocent citizens across the State.
“We want to assure you that this will neither dampen our spirit nor slow us down, as this is a temporary setback for our State which we will overcome by the grace of Almighty Allah (SWT).”
