Abba Kabir Yusuf, the governor of Kano State, has vehemently disagreed with the tribunal’s ruling invalidating his election victory, calling it a daylight theft that cannot withstand the test of time.
The judge’s decision is simply a temporary setback, he said, adding that “very soon he would reclaim his stolen mandate back through the appellate court.”
This information was provided by Yusuf, who also stated that “the legal team has been directed to appeal the Judgment immediately.”
You may recall that the governorship electoral tribunal declared on Wednesday that Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf’s election victory, as reported by INEC, was invalid.
The tribunal ordered INEC to give a new certificate of return to Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna of the APC as the legally elected governor of the state after ordering INEC to revoke the certificate of return provided to Abba Kabir Yusuf.
He said ‘’we have already instructed our legal team to appeal this judgment as soon as possible to ensure that justice is done.
“The judges of the tribunal have in their own wisdom delivered their ruling. As human beings their judgment may not be absolutely perfect, there are errors and misapplications of the law as pointed out by our legal team.
“That is why our constitution provides for other stages to go on with- such as Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.”
The governor, therefore, appealed to the Kano people to remain calm and be law-abiding.
‘’On this note, let me, therefore, call on all the good people of Kano State to be calm and remain law-abiding. People should not take the law into their own hands. Security agents have already been directed to ensure the full protection of lives and properties of innocent citizens across the state.
‘’This government will continue to work for the development of our state in line with the promises we made while seeking your votes.
“We want to assure you that this will neither dampen our spirit nor slow us down as this is a temporary setback for our state which we will overcome by the grace of Almighty Allah (SWT).’’
“While thanking the good people of Kano State for their continuous support and prayer, let me further use this opportunity to call on them to continue to go about their businesses peacefully with the assurances that we would get justice at the appellate courts and get the mandate of the people restored and respected Insha Allah.
“We were not disturbed by the judgement, because we believed the Most Allah is on our side and with the collective prayers of the teeming masses who voted for us during the election we would triumph at the end of the day and victory will be with us.”