By Abdullahi Yusuf
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 dogged player, eventually wins.”
One cannot, therefore, declare a game or an exercise over, until it is conclusively, decisively, and convincingly over, having satisfied all righteousness.
The Kano State Governorship election had come, but certainly not gone, as it has thrown up issues that must be resolved before the poll can be said to be finally over.
Until such issues are resolved, therefore, the poll should not be said to have been won and lost.
Highlighting the issues, the Legal Adviser of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdul Fagge, Esq., said among other things, that the INEC returning officer of the election erred in law and acted ultra vires of the Electoral Act by distinguishing cancellations due to violence and over-voting and deciding only to consider the latter in the final consideration of a margin of lead.
Fagge stated at a crowded Press Conference held in Kano on Tuesday that 273,442 PVCs were collected in areas where the election was canceled as a result of violence and over-voting, a figure he said meant that the margin of victory (128,897) used to declare Yusuf of the NNPP was not sufficiently based on the Electoral Act.
He said it was astonishing that within the same election, 16 of the House of Assembly elections held the same day and under the same conditions were declared inconclusive by INEC.
“Based on section 65 of the Electoral Laws 2022, we have written to INEC to revisit and cancel the hasty, wrong, and selfish declaration of the NNPP as the winner of the elections, and declare the conduct inconclusive,” he said.
Fagge, who spoke on behalf of the APC Chairman in the state, Prince Abdullahi Abbas, said they had since written to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) asking it to within seven days, revisit the election based on the provisions of the Electoral Laws and declare it Inconclusive.
The APC governorship candidate in the election, Dr. Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, who was in attendance, also rejected the declaration of Abba Kabir Yusuf of the New Nigeria People’s Party NNPP as the winner of the poll.
Dr. Gawuna aligned himself with all the positions of the party which among others gave INEC a-7-day ultimatum to declare the governorship poll inconclusive.
He called for calm among the ruling party’s faithful and supporters in the state and reiterated that power comes from Almighty Allah (SWT).
Meanwhile, Kano is now calm, after Monday’s call by the state chapter of the APC to all its members and supporters to remain calm “in the face of provocation by elements of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) in the name of celebrations which could lead to further breakdown of law and order.”
The party’s call came through the State Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Malam Muhammad Garba, which assured the APC members, supporters, and the general public of the commitment of Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje’s administration to the protection of their lives and property.
Garba said the APC was carefully analyzing the election process and collation of results with a view to taking a decision at the appropriate time.
He further appealed to the members to continue to be resolute, loyal, and faithful to the party.
Similarly, the dawn-to-dusk curfew earlier imposed by the State Government has also immensely helped in easing the tension generated by the INEC announcement.
The Information Commissioner said in another statement distributed to Newsmen that the decision to lift the curfew was made after a careful review of the situation and the relative calm achieved throughout the state.
He, therefore, urged commercial banks, public servants, and the people of the state to resume their normal businesses.
Now, what is left is for the electoral Umpire to do the needful as demanded by the APC and its standard flagbearer in the election, Dr. Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, so as to further calm members of the APC, its supporters, and the people of the state who overwhelmingly voted for the party last Saturday.
Abdullahi Yusuf is a Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Information to the Governor of Kano State
