By BASHIR ADEFAKA
After exhausting all democratically approved means of seeking redress in an election, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the March 18, 2023 governorship election in Kano State, Alhaji Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, has finally accepted defeat.
His acceptance followed Friday’s judgment of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, which after a long wait for delivery was decided in favour of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP)’s candidate in the election, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf.
APC’s Gawuna thus extended his congratulations to the victorious opposition party’s candidate, Governor Yusuf, who by the apex court verdict was certified nd affirmed to have been duly elected Governor of Kano State in the 10-month old election.
The DEFENDER reports that – due to pressures from some uncompromisable media organisations mainly online including this newspaper, civil society organisations including the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Transparency International, Amnesty International, human rights lawyers including Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), pro-democracy activists including Mr. Omoyele Sowore, aong many others nationwide – President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima refused to interfere with final court decision on the matter.
That was at a time, the obvious and unprecedent situation of suspicion, loss of trust and confidence into which tribunals and Court of Appeal had plunged the judiciary, the masses of Nigerian people home and and in the diaspora had concluded that the judiciary had no capacity and moral strength to deliver justice any long in the Nigeria’s justice administration sector.
The long and, indispensably, the most spiritedly fought electoral legal battle, became the only option left with the Supreme Court of Nigeria to right the embarrassing wrong and it made good use of it, The DEFENDER gathered.
In an interview with the BBC in Abuja on Friday, APC’s Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna expressed his acceptance of the fair ruling and urged Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf to serve the people of Kano with justice and integrity.
Gawuna was speaking as Governor Yusuf’s judicial victory saw Kano erupted into wild jubilation, celebrations and high spirits with free transportation services offered to passengers in Nigeria’s second largest economic nerve centre on Friday –
Mr. Yusuf Gawuna, maintaining a spirit of sportsmanship, addressed his supporters, stating, “I want to call on my supporters to understand that whatever happened was God’s plan.
“They should calm down and accept the verdict, and remember that this is the will of Allah, which we have accepted.”
Reflecting on the legal process, Gawuna, unjoined in the suit singlehandedly filed by APC, noted their win, first, via the tribunal’s suspicious zoom judgment and second the Court of Appeal judgment that upheld Governor Abba Yusuf’s sack, only to have been exposed as actually setting aside the governor’s sack and awarding APC fine of N1 million in his (Yusuf’s) favour.
“Our party followed the legal process to challenge the election. We won at the tribunal and the Court of Appeal, but the Supreme Court ruled against us, so we respect the verdict,” said Gawuna.
Although Gawuna’s party had earlier been accused of celebrating its candidate’s apex court ahead of the judgment, he reiterated that he had congratulated Governor Yusuf even before the legal proceedings commenced and expressed his continued well-wishes, saying, “I still wish him all the best. I pray for Allah’s guidance in his leadership.”
In a call for civic responsibility, Gawuna urged the citizens of Kano State to “maintain law and order” and emphasized the importance of prayers for peace and tranquillity, stating, “I urge the good people of Kano state to keep praying for our state and our country to have peace and tranquility.”
Concluding his remarks, Gawuna extended his prayers to God, seeking guidance for Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf in all his endeavors.
