The All Progressives Congress (APC), Kaduna state chapter, has berated People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Governorship Candidate, Hon. Mohammed Isah Ashiru to stop misleading the people of Kaduna state by deliberately misinterpreting the Kaduna Election Petition Tribunal judgment to give false hope about his candidature.
The tribunal had in its judgment, on Thursday, dismissed Ashiru’s petition for being filed out of time, while affirming the election of Governor Uba Sani of the APC. But the PDP candidate in a statement he personally signed, posited that the tribunal nullifies Uba Sani’s election and declared the election inconclusive.
In a statement signed by its Secretary, Malam Yahaya Baba Pate, the APC said: “The attention of the APC, Kaduna state chapter has been drawn to a statement with the heading: “Tribunal Nullifies Uba Sani’s Election.” issued by Hon. Isa Mohammed Ashiru, the Kaduna state gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general elections. We wouldn’t have responded to his position because the ruling of the tribunal scuttled his long-time ambition of ruling Kaduna state in 2023 and beyond.
“For the sake of the unsuspecting populace, we deem it necessary to set the record straight. In a statement issued on Thursday after the judgment of the tribunal affirming the election of Governor Uba Sani, Hon Ashiru mischievously informed his followers that the tribunal nullified His Excellency’s election. Ashiru stated that: “On the preliminary objection, the tribunal, based on the majority of 2:1 judges upheld the preliminary objection of the respondent to the effect that the application for pre-hearing was done prematurely i.e. before the service of the last set of petitioners’ reply to the 2nd respondent’s reply to the petition was served.
“This is an open admittance of the fact the tribunal agreed with the lawyers of the respondents and threw out his case, thereby exposing the duplicity in his claim that his petition succeeded.
“In an open concession to the legal mishap that befell him, he stated that he would pursue an appeal process. We wonder how a victor in a legal battle will suddenly run to announce his willingness to pursue an appeal.”