The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has described the Supreme Court judgment, which validated the Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuf’s election as the restoration of hope for the people of the State.
A five-member panel of the apex court led by Justice Inyang Okoro, on Friday, unanimously affirmed Yusuf’s victory in the March 18, 2023 election in the State.
The Court of Appeal and the State Governorship Election Tribunal had earlier nullified the governor’s victory in the election.
The NNPP’s National Secretary, Dipo Olayoku, who spoke with journalists in Abuja, said the judgment was a confirmation of the victory God gave NNPP last year.
He said: “The party is just appealing to politicians to try to win elections through the ballot boxes and not through the back door.
“I think the Supreme Court has deflated that and we want the other arms of the judiciary to also stand up to the truth.”
Olayoku, who is also the Deputy National Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), said the judgment did not come to the party as a surprise because everybody knew that NNPP won the governorship election in the State.
He said there is no way the All Progressives Congress (APC) could have claimed to have won the election where the NNPP won the presidential election, won two out of three Senatorial seats, and 18 out of 24 House of Assembly seats in the State.
“In the governorship elections, we defeated APC with about 200,000 votes. In the House of Assembly of 40 seats, we have 26. So what will be the yardstick for them to win governorship election?
“We thank God that the Supreme Court had restored the hope of the people.
“Now that the court cases have been put behind us, I know the governor is going to be more focused on delivering the dividends of democracy,” the NNPP chieftain added.