There is palpable anxiety among party stakeholders and supporters ahead of the Supreme Court judgment expected to be delivered this January on the various petitions challenging the rulings of the Court of Appeal on the governorship elections....CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
After the March 18, 2023, governorship elections in the states, some of the aggrieved candidates and their parties went to court challenging the declaration of some of their opponents as winners of the exercise by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Some of the governorship election cases began from various state tribunals and appeal Courts, before they eventually ended at the Supreme Court.
States like Kano, Lagos, Ogun, Nasarawa, Benue, and Bauchi are among those expecting the final judgment from the apex court.
Kano
In Kano State, anxiety has continued to mount as residents await the apex court judgment on the state governorship election dispute as supporters of the two warring parties in the state; the New Nigeria Peoples Party and the All Progressives Congress, stage protests and rallies against and for the judgment of the Appeal Court.
The appellate court had affirmed the verdict of the tribunal that sacked Governor Abba Yusuf and declared the candidate of the APC, Dr Nasiru Gawuna, as the authentic winner.
Supporters of the NNPP have continued to fault the Appeal Court ruling, especially the controversy surrounding the claim that two different judgments were delivered, which were against and also in favour of the incumbent governor.
On the contrary, the APC supporters continued to hail the two judgments which favoured their candidate.
The anxiety in the state had compelled the Kano State Police Commissioner, Gumel, to ban all protests or rallies and forced the leadership of both parties to sign a peace accord, even though this has not yielded much result as there were incidents of violence.
Speaking to Saturday PUNCH, a chieftain of APC in the state, Alhaji Alhassan Yaryasa, said the NNPP supporters should be blamed for the tension in the state.
“You see all that the NNPP supporters are doing is just to get public sympathy because they didn’t win the governorship election at the beginning,” he said.
However, effort to speak with the state NNPP Chairman, Alhaji Hashimu Dungurawa, failed as he didn’t respond to several phone calls from one of our correspondents.
Residents fear in Benue
In Benue State, anxiety and expectations are high as residents await the Supreme Court verdict on the appeal of the governorship candidate of the PDP, Titus Uba, challenging the judgments of the tribunal and the Appeal Court, which upheld the election of Hyacinth Alia of the APC, as the winner of the governorship election in the state.
Saturday PUNCH spoke with some of the residents who expressed fear over the possible outcome of the final judgment.
One of the residents, who simply identified himself only as Julius for security reasons, stated that the civil servants and retirees in the state were currently in prayers for the governor to win at the apex court…CONTINUE READING>>
