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Desmond Mgboh (Kano), Tunde Omolehin (Sokoto) and Rose Ejembi (Makurdi)
There is uneasy calm in the ancient city of Kano ahead of tomorrow’s Supreme Court judgment on the 2019 governorship elections in the state, which the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Abdulahi Umar Ganduje, was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after the poll in March.
Members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, who had lost both at the tribunal and at the Appeal Court, appeared to be very optimistic of a favourable judgment tomorrow.
Bature Sanusi, the spokesman of the governorship candidate of the party, Alhaji Abba Yusuf Kyari, told Sunday Sun by phone that they are very optimistic and very confident of victory in the apex court.
Interest in Monday’s judgment increased following the judgment of the Supreme Court which handed over the mandate in Imo State to the All Progressive Congress candidate, Chief Hope Uzodinma, thereby throwing out Emeka Ihedioha after eight months as governor.
Although there is general peace in Kano, some politicians are of the view that the Supreme Court would take a similar path in the case of Kano State.
However, the state Commissioner for Information, Mohammad Garba, in a statement, dismissed the insinuation as lacking in merit.
A statement he signed said: “There is absolutely no correlation between the facts and circumstances of the Hon. Emeka Ihedioha’s case and that of Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje versus Abba K Yusuf.”
He said that those who hold this view or have spoken in this direction spoke from the point of view of an unbridled ignorance of the law.
Malam Garba said that in the Ihedioha’s case, whilst there was glaring evidence of the cancellation of results by officials other than the presiding officers, in the case of Governor Ganduje, there was no evidence of such cancellation by officials other than the presiding officers.
The commissioner urged the people of Kano to remain calm while asking them to disregard the enduring propaganda embarked upon by the PDP in order to discredit the verdict of the Supreme Court.
In a reaction to the statement of the government, Sanusi Bature, the spokesperson to PDP gubernatorial candidate, noted said: “We are law-abiding citizens and proceeded to the court to seek redress on the injustice meted against the people of Kano State by the incumbent Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, INEC and the police.
“We believe in all honesty that the Supreme Court will do justice to our petition, so don’t want to preempt the outcome of the panel of judges.
“No amount of propaganda can change our fate, power belongs to Allah and He gives it to who He wishes at the very time He so wishes.”
Also ahead of the Supreme Court judgment on state governorship elections slated for tomorrow, residents of Sokoto State, especially those who belong to political parties have continued to live in anxiety over who will be affirmed as their governor.
Most of the residents in an interview with our correspondent in Sokoto said that they are anxiously waiting for the apex court’s verdict in order to end the month-old-long political tension between the two major parties.
“Our expectations is that the D-day will come and go without any further political uprisings. Although, the citizens in Sokoto are law abiding and we pray political elite will not disrupt our peace,” Musa Danladi said.
Though the state Commissioner for Information, Hon. Isah Galadanchi declined to comment on the development, saying their views would be reserved till after the apex court’s pronouncement, the APC spokesman in the state, Sambo Bello Danchadi said that the party is expecting victory in the end “because we have presented good case before the apex court.”
Meanwhile, the police in the state have said that they have deployed no fewer than 1,000 personnel to ensure that peace reigns before and after the judgment.
The state Commissioner of Police, Muhammad Kaoje said that particular attention was being focused on the Sokoto metropolis and its environs, as well as on some strategic locations within their vicinities.
“The strategy would be maintained until further notice, in line with the recent directive issued by the Inspector General of Police (IGP), on a 24-hour, nationwide red alert,” he said.
It would be recalled that the legal fireworks was ignited by the candidate of All Progressives Congress in the state, Alhaji Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto when he challenged the declaration of his arch-rival, Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of the Peoples Democratic Party who was pronounced winner by INEC and upheld by both the Elections Tribunal and Appeal Court.
Therefore, Aliyu had challenged the judgments of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and that of the Appeal Court that all dismissed his petitions, for lack of merit.
Also, a four-member Panel of Justices of the Court of Appeal Court, Sokoto Division in their unanimous judgment read by Presiding Justice Husseini Mukhtar agreed that, the petition filed by APC and its governorship candidate, challenging the victory of Governor Tambuwal, as upheld by the Tribunal, was lacking in merit.
Also in Benue State, there is palpable tension as the people await the Supreme Court judgment in the legal tussle between All Progressive Congress’ (APC) Emmanuel Jime and Governor Samuel Ortom of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday.
Loyalists of the two opposing parties are apparently afraid about the outcome of the judgment, whether it would favour them or not.
Some social media loyalists of both parties have also taken to the Facebook to throw jabs at each other, especially with the outcome of the Imo State judgment, which came as a surprise to many people.
Besides that, it is learnt that supporters of both APC and PDP have taken to prayer and fasting on the expected outcome of the Tuesday’s judgment.
Last week, Makurdi, the Benue State capital, practically emptied into Abuja when loyalists of APC and PDP went to witness the final judgment in the governorship election suit which Governor Ortom had won from the polls to the Tribunal and the Appeal Court.
However, the judgment, which was initially postponed indefinitely has been fixed to hold on Tuesday.
