*As Nigerians remember Buhari 6 months after leaving office
The New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) has alleged that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), a party that has now fallen under the control of Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Abdullahi Ganduje, wants to make Nigeria a one-party state.
The party, whose only state it completely lays control to through democratic means is being struggled to be taken through manipulative court process, was speaking just as the immediate past administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is remembered for its “one man one vote” mantra that enabled Nigerians vote for candidates of their choice across the parties.
The DEFENDER recalls that under Buhari, it was usually the case of win some and lose some whete opposition parties praised the ruling class for always ensuring fair play with less litigations for the eight years he spent as true leader of the party.
Six months after Buhari’s departure from Aso Rock, they are complaining that the new man in power, Tinubu, is now running the country on the new mantra of “vote for us or the court declares us winner, a sad development that the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) has now come corroborate.
According to the NNPP, Nigerians must rise up and resist the APC from turning the country into a one-party state.
NNPP said that the party would head to the court to restore the mandate of the good people of Kano State by re-affirming Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf as duly elected governor of Kano State.
The acting national chairman of NNPP, Abba Kawu Ali, who disclosed this in Abuja, at the press briefing, said that for anybody to claim that Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf was not a member of the NNPP at the time of the 2023 general election, is the worst of mischief anyone can come up with.
He called on the international community to support Nigeria’s deepened multi-party democracy and stop the APC from turning the country into a one-party state.
Ali said, “For our party, and we are sure for INEC as well, the issue of Membership of Candidate is a non-issue since the system of nomination is designed by INEC in such a way that only registered members can be nominated and uploaded onto the portal.
“It is therefore unbelievable that the Appeal Court would 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 by both the Appeal and Supreme Courts.
“We are therefore informing all members of the NNPP and indeed all Nigerians that our party has already briefed our lawyers to appeal this injustice at the Supreme Court.
“While we believe that the Supreme Court will correct the errors of the tribunal and the Appeal Court and restore the mandate of the good people of Kano State by re-affirming Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf as the duly elected Governor of Kano State, we are not unmindful of the political desperation of the APC leaders in Kano State, who were roundly rejected at the polls and who are now scampering to hijack power at all cost through the chambers of the Court as they did in 2019.
“We are therefore calling on all well-meaning Nigerians to intervene in the Kano situation as it is increasingly becoming the test case for the survival of democracy in Nigeria and the credibility of the judicial system,” he said.
