‘Miscarriage of justice’: NNPP rejects Appeal Court verdict

The Kano State chapter of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) on Saturday rejected the decision of the Court of Appeal, sacking Governor Kabir Yusuf as the Kano State governor, while describing the verdict as a miscarriage of justice.

Abba Ali, the acting National Chairman of the party, while addressing newsmen on Saturday in Abuja, said, “We are gathered here today to convey our outright rejection of and express our dismay at the judgment of the Court of Appeal in respect of the only elected governor on the platform of our dear party, the New Nigeria people’s Party.

“To say the least, we are shocked at the miscarriage of justice delivered on Friday, November 17, 2023, on the governorship Election petition of Kano State.

“We are not unmindful of the political desperation of the APC leaders in Kano State, who were roundly rejected at the polls and who are now scampering to hijack power at all cost through the chambers of the court as they did in 2019.”

Ali recalled that the state’s people elected the governor with  1,019,602 votes, adding that the APC candidate promptly congratulated the governor on his defeat and conceded defeat.

The chairman said that the party has already briefed its lawyers to appeal the judgment at the Supreme Court.

He said, “We called on all well-meaning Nigerians to intervene in the Kano situation as it is increasingly becoming the test case for the survival of democracy in Nigeria and the credibility of the judicial system.

“We are therefore calling on the ruling party to save democracy in Nigeria by halting their clandestine moves to annihilate all other political parties and drag the country into a one-party system.

“We are calling on the international community to support our country to deepen multi-party democracy and stop the APC from turning the country into a one–partystate.”

The Informant247 had, on Friday, reported that the Appeal Court sitting in Abuja sacked Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State while upholding the verdict of the tribunal led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan Osadebay which sacked Yusuf on September 20, 2023.

The lower court had declared 165,663 votes of Yusuf, who contested under the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), invalid because they were not signed or stamped by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). In contrast, the governor’s votes were reduced to 853,939 while Nasir Ganuwa, his All Progressives Congress (APC) rival, remained at 890,705.

Yusuf had rejected the tribunal verdict, which he described as “unfair” and “a miscarriage of justice”, and headed to the appeal court.

Wole Olanipekun, SAN, the lead counsel for Yusuf, at the court, asked that the tribunal’s judgement be set aside.

Kicking against the ruling on ballot papers, the senior lawyer said that was the first time in history that a tribunal would annul an election over non-signing of the back of ballot papers, arguing further that that was the first time that a political party would file a matter without joining its candidate as a party in the petition. The candidate would declare the winner of the polls.

But Akin Olujimi SAN, counsel for APC, countered him, saying the Appeal Court stated emphatically that the non-signing of ballots amounted to electoral malpractice.

The Informant247 had on Thursday reported that the Appeal Court sitting in Abuja had fixed November 17 for the judgment in the appeal of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf’s file to challenge his removal by the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal.