- The New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) plans to appeal the decision removing its Kano State governor as a miscarriage of justice
- The NNPP emphasized the importance of upholding the rule of law for democracy to thrive in Nigeria
The New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) has stated that it will appeal last Wednesday’s decision to remove its only governor, Kabiru Abba Yusuf of Kano State, as a miscarriage of justice.
The governorship election petition tribunal in Kano had sacked Yusuf, who had been declared the winner of the state’s governorship election on the NNPP platform by the Independent National Chairman Electoral Commission (INEC) on March 18.
However, reacting to the development yesterday in Abuja, the party’s acting Deputy National Chairman, Prince Nwaeze Onu, told journalists the verdict was a travesty of justice.
He stated that Nigeria’s democracy was seriously threatened and emphasized the need for coordinated efforts to prevent it from collapsing.
The NNPP chairman stated that the rule of law must be allowed to reign supreme for democracy to thrive in the country and that the NNPP would seek to reclaim its mandate, which was “freely given” to its candidate in the election, in a higher court.
He said;
It is going to be a hard nut to crack for the Kano State Election Petition Tribunal to convince a non-partisan Nigeria that in an election cycle with five different polls, (presidential, senatorial, House of Representatives, governorship and House of Assembly) the NNPP won in all except the governorship election.
For the sake of emphasis, the NNPP presidential candidate, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwakwanso, defeated the candidate of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu with a wide margin.
In the same vein, NNPP won two senatorial seats as against APC’s one seat. NNPP won 18 House of Representatives seats against APC’s four and in the House of Assembly, NNPP won a clear majority of seats as against APC’s meagre number of seats it won. And yet the Kano State Election Petition Tribunal believes it was over voting that NNPP majority votes in the governorship election.
The democracy system in Nigeria must follow due process and the rule of law. Due process must be followed so that democracy will not be under any threat. Everyone knows that there is a procedure to follow in a democracy.
We wish to state emphatically that although the judgement was a clear and deliberate miscarriage of justice and therefore a disappointment, our faith in the judiciary remains unshaken.
Every discerning person knows that the NNPP won in all the elections in Kano State. The APC knew right from the very beginning that it was hugely unpopular in Kano State that led it to declare total war on the people of the state during the last election. We call on the judiciary to do the needful. We look forward to a more impartial judgement in the next round of litigation.