By KEMI KASUMU
The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP)’s Candidate for Kano State, North West Nigeria, Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf, made history as he defeated Nasiru Gawuna, candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to win the Saturday March 18, 2023 Governorship election in Kano State.
Yusuf was declared winner after having polled 1,019,602 votes to beat his closest rival, the APC’s Gawuna who polled 890,705 votes.
Millions of Nigerians voted in what is believed to be the most challenging general elections since end of the military rule and birth of Fourth Republic in 1999.
After the February 25, 2023 presidential and national assembly elections, which dented the credibility of the INEC due to lack of transparencies caused by its breaches of Electoral Law and its own Regulations and Guideline, Nigerians albeit reluctantly returned to the polls on Saturday in 28 states of the country on Saturday and voted to elect their new governors and state legislators.
However, while the elections were marred with widespread of raw violence in Lagos, where voters were captured by eyewitnesses and on videos to be flogged, threatened and chased away from polling units, Rivers where the process was characterised by violence leading to killings and intimidation by arrest of opposition, the elections were more seamless in Kano where NNPP beat the ruling APP as announced by INEC on Sunday.
The DEFENDER reports that 18 political parties participated in the electoral process as, unlike the presidential election that held across the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, in only 28 out of 36 states of the Federation elections for new governors were held.
Eight other states will hold their governorship elections as timetable presents later.
