September 21, (THEWILL) – There is a legendary Hausa proverb that says:”Ba a san maci tuwo ba,sai miya ta kare,” in plain language meaning that: “In a game, only the real,the rugged and the dogged player eventually wins.”
After six months (March to September, 2023) of prayers, humility, doggedness, persistence, patience and perseverance, the real player, in the person of his Excellency Dr Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, has won the game.
Gawuna, who served as Deputy to the former Governor of Kano State, His Execellency, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has now been declared the rightful winner of the March 18,2023 governorship election,by the State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal,amid jubilations and supplication to God by the APC faithful in the state.
Delivering its judgement via Zoom on Wednesday,the three-member tribunal chaired by Justice Oluyemi Akintan-Osadebay, voided the election of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of the NNPP and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) to issue a fresh Certificate of Return to Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna of the APC.
The Returning Officer of the election, Prof.Ahmed Ibrahim, had on March 20,2023, declared Abba Yusuf winner of the governorship election, having polled 1,019,602 votes.
Prof.Ibrahim said that Abba Yusuf defeated his closest rival, Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna,who scored 892,705 votes.
But the Tribunal deducted 165,663 votes from Governor Yusuf’s total as invalid votes, stating that the ballot papers were not stamped or signed and therefore declared them invalid, thereby returning Gawuna as the rightful winner of the election.
Part of the reasons for nullifying Governor Yusuf’s election by the Tribunal also was that his name was not in the NNPP register submitted to INEC,so also the issue of over-voting which was deemed perpetrated during the governorship election.
Leaders and members of the APC in the state celebrated the “sweet victory” at the Tribunal in Grand style,as they embarked on special prayers thanking God “for enabling the Tribunal to deliver its judgement in our favour.”
The State Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Abbas, led thousands of supporters of the party in special prayers at the Kofar Mata Eid Ground.
Abbas,who spoke immediately after the prayer session, said the purpose of the supplication was to thank Almighty Allah for the party’s victory at the Tribunal.
He said the people of the state had every reason to celebrate the return of APC because the party and its government were the only ones that knew their plight and therefore addressed them.
“We are back to correct the wrongs and the imperial tendencies meted out to you, our beloved Kano citizens. Be assured that things will return to normal and your businesses will boom again,” he said.
The chairman also noted that Kano, the commercial nerve centre of Northern Nigeria, had been relegated to the background during the 100 days of the NNPP administration in the state,and promised that sanity would be restored with the return of the APC to power.
Other forms of celebration continue across the state,though quitely, as the State Command of the Federal Roads Safety Corps had, ahead of the landmark judgement, banned wild celebrations, urging both APC and NNPP supporters to “remain calm and resist the temptation of wild celebrations during and after the tribunal judgement, especially with vehicles or causing any forms of obstruction on the roads.”
It said wild celebrations that would cause breach of traffic rules and regulations which may result in the obstruction of the highways and road traffic crashes would not be allowed, and warned that perpetrators would be made to face the full wrath of the law.
Similarly,the State Police Command had, few hours after the Tribunal judgement, imposed a 24-hour curfew on the state in order to maintain law and order.
The command said that the curfew took effect from 6 p.m. on Wednesday, September 20, to 6 p.m. of Thursday, September 21, warning that violators of the order would “be arrested and made to face the full wrath of the law.”
The measures employed by the two security commands in the state have helped in dousing the palpable tension that enveloped the state before, during and after the Tribunal judgement,leading to a general calmness in the state.
The resultant calmness being experienced in the state now, would allow the APC faithful and indeed other well-meaning residents of the state to continue to pray for peace and harmony, as they digest the Tribunal’s verdict.
The ensuing tranquil atmosphere will also enable the APC leadership to effectively focus on matters arising from its victorious outing at the tribunal, including the vow by Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf to appeal the judgement.
*** Abdullahi Yusuf is a former Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Information to the immediate-past Governor of Kano State.
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