Kano State Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf has stated that he will appeal the Supreme Court’s decision to remove him from office on Friday.
Chronicle NG reports that the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has affirmed the tribunal judgment that nullified the election of Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State.
The Appeal Court in its judgment on Friday, concurred with the judgment of the Kano tribunal, ruling that the fielding of Abba Yusuf was in breach of the Electoral Law as he was not qualified to contest that Election.
Yusuf, who contested on the platform of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), was declared the winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The tribunal had previously nullified the election of Kano Governor Abba Yusuf by declaring 165, 663 of his votes were invalid stating the ballot papers were not signed nor stamped by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The ruling came about six months after the APC candidate conceded defeat to Yusuf in the wake of INEC’s presentation of the certificate of return to the NNPP candidate.
In response to the ruling, Governor Yusuf stated that he has asked his lawyers to file an appeal with the Supreme Court.
Yusuf remarked that the appeal court’s verdict robbed the people of Kano of their mandate, but expressed confidence that he would retrieve the ‘stolen’ mandate at the Apex Court.
According to him, “We have instructed our lawyers to appeal this ruling to the Supreme Court, where we hope it will right the wrong done to Kano people.
“We believe the judgment was unjust to us. We know that the people of Kano came out en masse to vote for us.
“We are optimistic that the Supreme Court will return our stolen mandate and address the unjust meltdown on us.
“I want to assure the people of Kano that all this that is happening is a temporary matter, and in no time, the Supreme Court will reclaim our mandate.
“We will not be deterred from the good work we have started in the state.
“We call on the people of the state to go about their normal activities as security personnel are on the ground to protect them,” Governor Yusuf said.