Supporters of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) have continued to protest the Appeal Court’s decision to remove Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf.
But this time, it was the party’s female followers who marched to Kano’s police headquarters to protest what they saw as an injustice by the appellate court.
Despite state police warnings against protests, hundreds of women marched from the residence of the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Rabiu Kwankwaso, to the police headquarters on Sunday, dressed in red and carrying placards with various inscriptions.
They are calling for justice, insisting that Governor Yusuf won the March governorship election in the North-West state. Some of them have also gone spiritual as the protests continued.
‘Miscarriage of Justice’
The most recent protest, coming about a week after the court verdict, is the third since the Appeal Court sacked the governor of the state over what it termed his ineligibility to contest the election.
According to the court, the party’s fielding of Yusuf breached the Electoral Law as he was not qualified to contest that poll. It thus declared the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s Nasiru Gawuna as the winner of the exercise.
But the NNPP and Governor Yusuf have already rejected the judgment and headed to the Supreme Court to challenge the verdict.
Governor Yusuf, who unseated the ruling APC in the state to sweep to victory, labelled it a “miscarriage of justice”.
“After careful study and rigorous stakeholder engagement, my team and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), have decided to approach the Supreme Court on the miscarriage of justice, delivered by the Appeal Court, yesterday in Abuja,” he said in a broadcast to residents of the state.
His party believes the sacking of its only governor counts among the “most ridiculous judgments” in the country’s history.
“In spite of overwhelming evidence presented to the tribunal by our team of lawyers, the tribunal passed one of the most ridiculous judgments in the history of election jurisprudence in Nigeria and unjustly declared the APC candidate, who had never joined the petition, as the winner of the election,” the party’s Acting National Chairman Abba Ali said.
“It is therefore unbelievable that the appeal court will refuse to look at the merit of our party’s appeal and cling to the erroneous issue of membership that has already been settled severally [sic] by both the appeal and Supreme Court.”
Following the judgment, a Certified True Copy (CTC) of the verdict had emerged showing contradictions with the court ruling in favour of and against Governor Yusuf.
But the court was quick to make clarifications about the development, ascribing it to clerical error. The judgment sacking the Kano governor, it maintained, remains valid.
Already, the APC has welcomed the judgment, saying the development and the verdict on the Zamfara governorship election, show that the judiciary is truly independent.
“Both judgments underscore the vibrancy and independence of the judiciary and rekindle confidence that the courts are, and remain, the bastion of hope for justice in any democracy,” APC spokesman Felix Morka argued.