The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) yesterday asked the National Judicial Council (NJC) to investigate the verdict.
The party insisted that the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgment delivered on its appeal showed their gubernatorial candidate won the election.
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Speaking at a press conference in Abuja, the national chairman of the NNPP, Abba Kawu Ali, said even though they were challenging the matter at the Supreme Court, they still want the NJC to, without delay, commence an investigation to unravel what happened in the matter.
“We are an interested party. We own the platform on which Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf ran for the election and was declared the winner. We are calling on the National Judicial Council (NJC) to, without delay, commence an investigation to unravel what happened in the matter.
“Also, we are calling on eminent members of the bench (both retired and serving) and the bar to be interested in what happened because we have the kind of scenario presented in the CTC of the judgement of the Appeal Court,” NNPP said.
NNPP said it will not back out of their quest to get justice and retrieve the mandate freely and willingly given to their candidate, Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf, in the March 18, 2023, governorship election in Kano State, as announced by the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The party stated: “The announcement by INEC prompted the All Progressives Congress APC (but please note this, without their candidate) to go to the Tribunal to challenge Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf’s victory, and the Tribunal on September 20 2023, delivered its ruling and gave victory to the APC candidate who was not part of the case!
“The Governor, Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf promptly proceeded to the Appeal Court, and three Justices, Honorable Justice Moore Aseimo Abraham Adumien JCA; Honorable Justice Bitrus Gyarazama Sanga JCA; and Honorable Justice Lateef Adebayo Ganiyu JCA heard the matter and delivered their judgment in the Appeal No/ CA/KN/ EP/GOV/KAN/34/2023, on Friday, November 17, 2023.
“All efforts to get the Certified True Copies (CTC) of the judgement for our Legal team up until yesterday, Tuesday, November 21, 2023, to prepare our processes for the appeal proved abortive, and this prompted the alarm we raised up until yesterday morning because time was running out on us.
“We all know that the appeal must be filed within 14 days. Now we wish to inform the world that we were finally able to collect the CTC yesterday afternoon.
“Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press, to our greatest surprise, the CTC showed that the judgment delivered by Honorable Justice Moore Aseimo Abraham Adumein (JCA) and concurred to by Honorable Justice Bitrus Gyarazama (JCA) and Honorable Justice Lateef Adebayo Ganiyu (JCA) is actually in favour of our candidate, the Governor of Kano State, Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf.
“At page 67 of the extant judgment, its conclusive findings held inter alia: “In the circumstances, I resolve all the issues in favour of the appellant.” (Engr. Yusuf Abba Kabir)” the judgment of the tribunal in petition No. EPT/KN/GOV/01/2023 between the All Progressives Congress (APC) Vs INEC & 2 others delivered on September 20, 2023 is hereby set aside”
“The sum of N1 million only is hereby awarded as costs in favour of the appellant (Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf) and against the 1st respondent” (APC). Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press, this is a complex situation; we, as a political party and our candidate, have found ourselves”.
The NNPP implored leaders, elders, and other major stakeholders in the Nigerian project, including the media, to wade into the matter to avert the danger the development portends for the nation’s democracy.
Meanwhile, Kano State governor Abba Yusuf has filed an appeal before the Supreme Court to challenge his removal by the Court of Appeal last week.
In the notice of appeal filed by the NNPP, the governor joined INEC as well as the All Progressives Congress (APC) as respondents.
The party and its candidate filed 10 grounds of appeal against the judgment of the appellate court, seeking three reliefs from the highest court in the land.
It prayed to the court for an order allowing the appeal and setting aside the judgment of the appellate court delivered on November 17, 2023.
The governor and his party also sought an order upholding the portion of the judgment of the Court of Appeal setting aside the judgment of the trial tribunal in petition No: EPT/RV/GOV/11/2023 and making an order as costs in favour of the appellant.
Last week, the Court of Appeal set aside the election of Governor Yusuf, declaring that the non-inclusion of his name in the register of his party held by INEC violated Section 177(c) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which requires a candidate vying for a governorship position to be a member of a political party.
The ruling was contrary to the judgement of the governorship election petition tribunal, which ruled that the court lacked the jurisdiction to determine the membership of a party.
The appellate court removed the governor and declared his opponent, Nasiru Gawuna of APC as the duly elected governor.
Meanwhile, there is palpable tension in the country, particularly in Kano State, as the APC insisted yesterday that it would hold a counterprotest rally simultaneously with that of the NNPP fixed for tomorrow, Saturday, November 25, 2023, in Kano State.
It would be recalled that the ruling NNPP in the state had earlier announced that it would hold a rally on the same day.
But APC stakeholders from Kano maintained that the state was big enough for the two parties to hold their events without any clash.
Addressing journalists in a press conference at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja, the Kano APC stakeholders stated that Kano had been peaceful throughout the eight-year administration of the party, as evidenced by the increased number of governmental and non-governmental organizations and corporate bodies rushing to Kano to hold their conferences, seminars, symposia, and annual general meetings, and, importantly, the inflow of Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs).
Director-general of the Gawuna/Garo Campaign Organization, Alhaji Rabiu Suleiman Bichi, who spoke on behalf of the stakeholders, noted however that the people of Kano have been living in perpetual fear of intimidation and threat to life and property since the NNPP administration assumed office.
Bichi stated: “Apart from public property, the state headquarters of our party and properties of some leading figures of the APC were torched, all in the name of celebration.
“The APC as a party that has always been promoting the cause of democracy and the rule of law, rejected the outcome of the election and sought to reclaim its mandate through the appropriate channel as laid down in the Electoral Act and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“After filing its case at the state Governorship Election Petition Tribunal that sat in Kano, the APC patiently pursued it for months up to the pronouncement of the stage where the three-man panel of judges fixed the date for the judgement.
“However, sensing defeat, the NNPP resorted to threatening to kill the judges of the tribunal should the verdict of the court eventually be announced and not in their favour. The threats by the NNPP government’s cabinet members included among others, the Secretary to the Kano State Government, Baffa Bichi, who forced the tribunal to deliver its judgement via Zoom for fear of their lives.
“The NNPP government then resorted to sponsored street protests, including embarrassingly the one held in London on which millions of naira were said to have been spent. The aim of the protests to further instil fear in the minds of the people failed, as only a few attended.”
The APC stakeholders further accused the NNPP government in Kano of setting aside millions of naira for propaganda in the media where they have been spreading all sorts of lies, as well as blackmailing and harassing officials of the immediate past APC administration.
Bichi continued: “Things appear to be getting worse since the embattled leader of the NNPP Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso came back to Kano on Sunday, where he held a meeting of the party’s stakeholders, at the end of which they came up with a line-up of activities that included unleashing of violence to not only eliminate the APC in Kano but also to make it ungovernable in the event of Supreme Court judgement in favour of the APC.
“We have it from reliable sources that they are planning a mass protest on Saturday during which key figures of the APC will be targeted.
“It is on this note that we call on the Kano state police command and other security agencies to be alive to their responsibilities and take appropriate measures to avoid loss of lives and property”.