The National Chairman of All Progressives Congress, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, said they are not afraid of facing the ousted governor of Kano State, Abba Yusuf, and his New Nigeria Peoples Party at the Supreme Court following their loss at the Court of Appeal on Friday.
The immediate past governor of Kano also hailed the judiciary for living up to expectations.
Ganduje’s praise came hours after an Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal affirmed the APC candidate, Nasiru Gawuna, as the winner of the governorship election in Kano.
Delivering judgment on the matter on Friday, the three-member panel led by Justice M.A Adumeh held that Yusuf was not qualified to contest the election as he was not in the membership register of his political party.
Addressing newsmen at his Asokoro residence on Friday, Ganduje said it would be unfair not to also appreciate the NNPP for dragging them to court in the first place.
He however boasted that they would match them grit for grit at the apex court after the appeal court threw out their case.
He said, “I thank Allah for this important judgment. We have to thank the judiciary for providing a good administration of justice despite all the distractions that have taken place since the beginning of the case. There is no doubt this is a victory for democracy. It is a victory for APC and a victory for Kano State. “This is an indication that democracy has come to stay in Nigeria. Democracy we can say is matured in Nigeria. We have to thank all those stakeholders even the political parties, even the NNPP that took us to the Appeal Court.
“There is no doubt that after the election you get to litigation. And the end is always determined by the judiciary. For Kano State, this victory is for all of us. We are fully aware of what happened during the election.
“A lot of malpractices took place and we took the issue to the tribunal. And by the grace of God, we got a fair judgment in favour of our great party, the APC. Now the government in power, the NNPP decided to go to the Court of Appeal, and this morning, the Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment of the lower court.
“By so doing, our gubernatorial candidate Dr. Nasiru Gawuna is the duly elected Governor of Kano State. But in all, probably they will go to the Supreme Court which is part of democracy. There is nothing wrong for them to go to the Supreme Court. We too, are ready to meet them in the Supreme Court. And Inshallah, we will win in the Supreme Court as well.
“But, we want to assure the people of Kano State that the good administration that was provided in my eight years of administration was my deputy Dr. Nasiru Gawuna and now, the Governor-elect for Kano state will provide a similar not even similar. I believe he will provide a better administration more achievements will be recorded in Kano State. Because that is what we expect.”
Speaking in the same vein, Gawuna shared the sentiment of the APC national chairman when he attributed the victory to God and the judiciary.
The APC candidate of Kano also vowed not to disappoint the people of Kano State.
“Whoever goes to the court like this and is given judgment in his favour definitely will feel very happy and grateful to Allah for the Court of Appeal to affirm his victory.
“I am so happy. I am also still deep in my thoughts because I have to sit down and think very well. But because of the confidence and expectations of the people in us, Insha Allahu we are praying that we will not fail our people,” he stated.
