Following the Supreme Court judgement on the Kano state governorship election in favour of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), the party has expressed appreciation to Nigerians, the media and the International Community for standing by them.
The NNPP Acting National Chairman, Abba Kawu Ali, who expressed the appreciation at a press briefing in Abuja described the struggle to save Kano as “multi-partisan movement.”
He said, “We are here today to register our profound gratitude to Nigerians in general, the International Community and Indeed, the media, for their invaluable support to our party during our trying journey through the judicial process which ended yesterday with the verdict of the Supreme Court.
“As you are all aware, the verdict affirmed the victory of NNPP and our candidate in the March 18, 2023 election, it reaffirmed Engineer Abba Kabir Yusuf as the authentic, duly elected, executive governor of Kano state.
“We want to assure all Nigerians and particularly the people of Kano state that we will not take this show of solidarity for granted. Our governor, Engineer Abba Kabir Yusuf, will continue with the people-oriented programmes which he embarked upon since he took over the reins of government in Kano state.”
Last week Friday, the Supreme Court set aside the ruling of the Appeal Court tribunal, which ruled in favour of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) and ruled in favour of NNPP and its candidate.
On this, NNPP, also thanked the Supreme Court Justices.
They said, “We want to specially appreciate the Honourable Justices of the Supreme Court for their courage to uphold the principles of fairness and equity, as demonstrated in their judgement yesterday.
In a similar vein, we are very grateful to our highly respected former Heads of State, former Presidents, our revered traditional rulers, religious leaders, leaders of political parties, members of the bar, Student Union leaders, Diaspora Nigerians, and others too numerous to mention, for their individual and collective role in what was termed “Operation Save Kano and Save Democracy”.
“The struggle to “save Kano” was a multi-partisan movement involving all lovers of democracy across the length and breadth of our dear country, Nigeria, and beyond.
“We are happy that at the end of the whole exercise, NNPP has been vindicated by the ruling of the Supreme Court and the statement of the chairman of the 5-man panel, Justice Inyang Okoro JSC, who rightly observed that there was miscarriage of justice In the outcome of the matter Involving our Party and our Governor, Engr Abba Kabir Yusuf at the Tribunal and Court of Appeal levels. Justice Inyang Okoro JSC, speaking
“We wish to echo the voice of Justice Inyang Okoro JSC when he urged Judges to always be meticulous in their work. We wish to add that Judges should always continue to be bold and courageous, and discharge their duties without fear of favour.
“They should resist all external pressure and work with their conscience. This is necessary for the judiciary to maintain its age-old credibility and reverence as “the last hope of the common man”.
“Our Judiciary must indeed be morally and institutionally strengthened to ensure its historic dignity and independence and its ability to serve, not the desires of the elite, but the yearnings and aspirations of the greater number of Nigerians.”
