Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State, on Saturday, announced his intention to appeal against Friday’s dismissal of his election by the Court of Appeal at the Supreme Court.
“I hereby inform the people of Kano State and well-meaning Nigerians that, based on the consensus of our stakeholders, we have instructed our lawyers to appeal against the judgement at the Supreme Court.
“We are optimistic that the Supreme Court will set aside these miscarriages of justice by the Election Petition Tribunal and the Appeal Court.
“We are also optimistic that the Supreme Court will reaffirm our mandate given by the people of Kano State,’’ he said in a statement issued by his media aide, Bature Dawakin-Tofa.
Mr Yusuf called on Kano State people to go about their legitimate businesses as the government had taken necessary measures to ensure the security of their lives and properties as a cardinal responsibility.
He assured that the temporary setback would not deter his administration from its commitment to continue with its laudable projects and programmes to restore the lost glory of the state.
He said he would instead roll out more initiatives to deliver the dividends of democracy to the citizens and residents of Kano State.
Mr Yusuf also called on the people of the state and other well-meaning Nigerians to continue to pray to God for Kano’s mercy and protection to save the state from injustice and mischief makers.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja nullified Mr Yusuf’s election on Friday in a unanimous ruling by the three-man panel on the ground that he was not a valid candidate in the March 18 gubernatorial election.
The court stated that evidence presented by parties convincingly established that Mr Yusuf was not a member of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) at the time of the election.
It held that this made Mr Yusuf ineligible to contest the governorship election under the 1999 Constitution as amended since he was not validly sponsored by the NNPP.
“A person must be a member of a political party before he can be sponsored for an election.
“Sponsorship without membership is like putting something on nothing, Justice M. U. Adumeh, panel chairman, stated while delivering the judgement.
The appellate court consequently affirmed the earlier judgement of the Kano State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which had nullified Yusuf’s election.
In a virtual judgement read on September 20, the election petition tribunal ousted Mr Yusuf from office and declared Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna of the All Progressive Congress (APC) as the winner of the election.
The tribunal, led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan-Osadebay, determined that certain ballot papers, pivotal in declaring Mr Yusuf as the winner, lacked the necessary INEC signatures and stamps.
Consequently, 165,663 votes credited to the NNPP candidate were declared invalid.
After deducting the invalidated votes, Mr Yusuf, who was initially declared the winner with 1,019,602 votes, saw his tally reduced to 853,939 votes.
In the turn of events, his closest rival, Mr Gawuna, the APC candidate, emerged as the new winner with 890,705 votes.
(NAN)
