….. as Kwankwaso urges sacked governor to leave the scene until 2027
Presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party NNPP,Rabiu Kwankwaso has urged the sacked governor of Kano state,Abba Yusuf ,( NNPP)to accept the court of appeal’s judgement on Friday which nullified his election in good faith.
The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC had declared Yusuf as winner of the March 18 Governorship election in Kano state
But the All Progressives Congress and its candidate, Gawuna who initially declined moves to challenge the decision, dragged Yusuf to the State Election Petition Tribunal which after going through the merits of the petition declared his rival,Dr Nasiru Gawuna as governor of Kano state.
The panel of Justices of the Appeal Court upheld the decision of the Election Petition Tribunal led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan Osadebay on 20 September,2023.and declared Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress APC as winner of the election.
The Tribunal had declared some of Yusuf’s votes as invalid on ground that they were not signed.
Going by the invalid votes, Yusuf’s votes were reduced to 853,939 votes while Gawuna ‘s votes remained at 890,705 making the court to nullify the governor’s election and declare Gawuna as the authentic winner of the election.
However , reacting to the news of Governor Yusuf’s sack, Kwankwaso urged the governor not to waste his time and money to go to the Supreme Court until another election.
“It would be another mission impossible for him to drag the case to the Supreme Court, going by the available evidence that nailed him at both the Tribunal and the Appeal Court. Hence, the need for him to go and rest until 2027.”
Kwankwaso,a former governor of the state said that Yusuf on hearing the judgement of the Tribunal should not have considered going to appeal the court decision to waste the meagre resources of the state “Gov. Yusuf should have read the handwriting on the wall, analyzed the various pieces of evidence used by the Tribunal to sack him, noting that those pieces of evidence are convincing for the court to neglect .
“As a brother, I am using this medium to advise him to shelve any move to drag his defeat to the Supreme Court but should just know that this is not the time for him to be the governor of the state.
He congratulated Dr. Gawuna and his Deputy,Sule Garo on the victory at the Appeal Court, and called on them to be prepared to govern the state.
