If a soothsayer had told some members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kano State that the Supreme Court ruling will go the way of their opponents, they might have put up a fight.
After the March 18 ballot was lost, Nasir Gawuna, the party’s candidate had given an indication that he had accepted his fate but the party filed an appeal at the tribunal and won.
Similarly, the party also emerged victorious and perhaps that set a tone of the chain of events in the buildup to the Supreme Court ruling.
This piece highlights some of the loud actions of Kano APC before the shaky feet of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) stabilized in Kano.
Ahead of the Supreme Court judgement on the governorship election in the state, local chapters of APC in Kano distributed uniforms (popularly known as aso-ebi), to members for a planned swearing-in of its candidate, Gawuna.
In one of the uniforms, the inscription “Section 177” was boldly written on the T-shirt, in apparent reference to Section 177 of the Nigeria Constitution which spells out the criteria for becoming a governor in Nigeria.
The Court of Appeal had in affirming the sack of Governor Yusuf held that the governor did not meet the requirement of the section, specifically Section 177(3), which stated that a person shall be qualified for election to the office of Governor of a State if “he is a member of a political party and is sponsored by that political party”.
The APC had argued in the petition that the governor was not a member of the NNPP as at the time of the election based on the membership register of the NNPP submitted to INEC before the election and could not have been said to have been legally sponsored by the party.
Thus, producers of the uniforms said they believe the apex court would affirm the decision of the Court of Appeal.
The Kano Secretariat of the APC was renovated barely 24 hours before the commencement of hearing at the Supreme Court. The party secretariat located along Maiduguri road, which barely had any scripture or picture on its building, now has the picture of its gubernatorial candidate, Gawuna, the National Chairman of the party, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the state party chairman, Abdullahi Abbas.
Hoodlumss ransacked the secretariat barely three hours after the announcement of incumbent Governor Yusuf as the winner of the 2023 gubernatorial election.
The APC former Special Advisers Forum said it was 99.9 per cent optimistic of victory at the Supreme Court judgment on the Kano Governorship dispute.
The Chairman of the forum, Dr. Abbati Bako, made this known while briefing Journalists in Kano two weeks ago.
While congratulating the party’s governorship candidate, Gawuna and his running mate, Murtala Sule Garo, on their victories at the Election Petition Tribunal and the Appeal Court, he had said the judgement would definitely stand at the apex court.