…denies pact with NNPP
All Progressives Congress on Sunday, denied trading off the Kano State governorship seat to the New Nigeria Peoples Party to forestall any violence that might greet its victory from the Supreme Court.
According to the APC, what played out last Friday was purely a legal matter as decided by the apex court.
APC governorship candidate, Nasir Gawuna was earlier returned as the winner of the March 18, 2023 governorship election by the Kano State Governorship Tribunal, a decision that was also upheld by the Court of Appeal.
But the Supreme Court on Friday upturned the verdict of the tribunal and the appellate court.
The apex court declared Abba Yusfu of NNPP as the rightful winner of the state election.
But speculations were rife that the APC may have deliberately traded off the governorship seat in Kano State as part of an arrangement to ward off any possible post-adjudication violence in the nation’s most populous state.
Reacting to the speculation on Sunday in Abuja at a news conference, APC Deputy National Organising Secretary, Nze Chidi Duru, said the party would have loved to win the state, but as an institution that believes in the rule of law, it has it to bow to the decisions of courts.
Duru said, “The judiciary spoke and that is why we have the various tiers of the judiciary. You have the trial courts and then you have the Court of Appeal, thereafter you have the Supreme Court and that is not in any way to denigrate the understanding of the learned justices who were at the various levels of adjudication systems.
“The trial court appreciated and pronounced the fact as they understood it and the same thing happened when they went to the Court of Appeal. It was also basically to that extent they appreciated the matter and those in the final court saw it differently and then of course pronounced judgment based on the facts that were before them.
“So, it does not in any way denigrate one section of the arm of the judiciary against the other and it is in the wisdom of our founding fathers that we have these various layers of adjudication process; that first, if you err at the trial court, then those at the higher courts may then look at it and find a different understanding based on the understanding that they have.
“I did not see any politics in it. I did not also see any arrangement based on that. What did happen was that at the trial court, they understood the fact differently, at the Court of Appeal they also understood it but more importantly at the Supreme Court which is the final arbiter in the judicial process, a different understanding was given to it and a pronouncement was made accordingly.
“Law is what it is. Law is based on law and then on facts and if for anything, I want to believe that we should applaud our judiciary for again rising to the occasion and then espousing the law in a way that “Nigerians are confident that you can take your differences and grievances to an impartial arbiter and there will be justice dispensed in a way that is satisfactory to all parties involved.
“It is also commendable in a way that it did also suggest that even if there is the suspicion of interference in the arm of government, Friday’s ruling and exposition on the part of the judiciary also did show that they are essentially independent. It gives confidence to both the political actors that the only way you can win an election really and frankly is to reach to the electorate; to canvass your views, your ideas and your ideals, share your manifestos with them and then when you win, you win fair and square.”