Appeal court upholds Ganduje’s election

The court of appeal in Kaduna has reaffirmed Abdullahi Ganduje as the duly elected governor of Kano state.

On Friday, the appellate court panel led by Tijjani Abubakar upheld the ruling of the Kano governorship election tribunal which ruled in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Ganduje, its candidate in the March election.

The panel dismissed the petitions filed by the Peoples Democratic Party and Abba Yusuf, governorship candidate of the opposition party, on the grounds that the petitions lack merit.

The Independent National Electoral Commissioner (INEC) had declared Ganduje winner of the election, saying he polled 1,033,695 votes while Yusuf, his closest rival, garnered 1,024,713 votes.

Dissatisfied with INEC’s declaration, Yusuf and his party headed to the tribunal where they sought annulment of the election “on the grounds that there were irregularities”.

However, judgment was delivered in favour of the governor.

Reacting to the appellate court ruling on Friday, the PDP and its candidate said they will study the judgment and file an appeal before the apex court.

“We will get the full judgment to know the basis of the judgment before proceeding to the supreme court,” he said.

But Ibrahim Mukhtar, attorney general and commissioner for justice in Kano, said the judiciary upheld justice.

“Today’s judgement shows that the judiciary is working and there is justice in our court,” he said.