Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, has rejected the ruling of the Election Petitions Tribunal that sacked him and ordered APC, Candidate, Nasir Yusuf Gawuna of the APC be issued a certificate of return.
Yusuf appealed to Kano residents to maintain peace while vowing to use all legal means to reclaim his mandate.
Addressing the media few minutes before midnight, Gov Yusuf said the judgment was error-ridden and that he is optimistic that these errors would be corrected at the appellate court.
“My good people of Kano State! You would recall that on March 18, 2023, you came out enmasse and voted for me as your Governor with a total votes of 1,019,602 and a margin of 128,897 votes between my humble self and second place.”
“Subsequently, I was duly sworn-in as your elected Governor on May 29, 2023. You may also recall that the party that lost the election took us to court.
“However, after almost six months of proceedings at the governorship election petition tribunal, today Wednesday, September 20, 2023, the judges of the tribunal have in their own wisdom delivered their ruling.
“As human beings their judgement may not be absolutely perfect, there are errors and misapplication 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.”
He added that, “We have already instructed our legal team to appeal this judgement as soon as possible to ensure that justice is done.”
Yusuf called on the people of Kano to be calm and remain law abiding while security agents had 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 for 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”.
