Kano: NNPP Rejects Verdict As Governor Yusuf Files Appeal With Supreme Court
The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), under whose banner Governor Abba Yusuf won the March 18 governorship election, has challenged the Appeal Court decision dismissing the Kano leader.
The court agreed with the tribunal’s decision two months ago that the party’s nomination of Yusuf violated electoral law because he was not qualified to run in that election. As a result, Nasiru Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was proclaimed the election winner.
One day after the ruling, the NNPP expressed surprise at the outcome of the governorship race in one of Nigeria’s main states, calling it “ridiculous.”
“To put it mildly, we were stunned by the miscarriage of justice rendered on Friday, November 17, 2023, on the governorship election petition of Kano State,” NNPP Acting National Chairman Abba Ali told journalists at a news conference in Abuja on Saturday.
“Despite overwhelming evidence presented to the tribunal by our team of lawyers, the tribunal passed one of the most ridiculous judgements in the history of Nigerian election jurisprudence and unjustly declared the APC candidate, who had never joined the petition, as the election winner.”
“It is therefore incomprehensible that the appeals court will refuse to consider the merits of our party’s appeal and will instead cling to the erroneous question of membership, which has previously been addressed multiple times [sic] by both the appeals court and the Supreme Court.”
Governor Yusuf, who defeated the incumbent APC in the state, has already rejected the decision to fire him. He referred to it as 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 said in a broadcast to residents of the state following the decision.
Governor Yusuf is optimistic that the Supreme Court will, “with the grace of Allah SWT, strike aside these miscarriages of justice by the Tribunal and the Appeal Court and reaffirm our mandate, as provided by the good people of Kano State.”
The Appeal Court decision came six months after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) pronounced Yusuf the election winner.
Following the announcement, the APC candidate conceded loss to Yusuf, attributing his decision to his faith.