Buba Galadima, a chieftain of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), says the country could have been up in flames had the Supreme Court sacked Abba Yusuf as governor of Kano State.
BACKGROUND
On Friday, the Supreme Court certified the election of Yusuf as Kano governor.
A five-member panel of the apex court held that the tribunal and the court of appeal erred by sacking Yusuf, candidate of the NNPP, as governor of Kano.
The Supreme Court had reserved judgment after hearing the appeals on December 21, 2023.
In March 2023, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Yusuf the winner of the Kano governorship election.
The Kano governor scored 1,019,602 votes to defeat Yusuf Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who polled 890,705 votes.
In September, the Kano governorship election petition tribunal sacked Yusuf as governor of the state.
The tribunal deducted 165,663 votes from the 1,019,602 recorded for Yusuf because the ballot papers were not stamped, signed, and dated as required by law.
‘RESTORING DIGNITY OF JUDICIARY’
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television on Sunday, Galadima said the apex court restored the honour and dignity of the judiciary with its verdict.
He said he never lost hope in the NNPP retaining Kano State.
The NNPP chieftain also commended President Bola Tinubu for not interfering in the judicial process.
“I am one person who never gave in to the idea that we would lose Kano,” Galadima said, adding, “Let me first congratulate the Supreme Court for restoring the honour, dignity of the judiciary. The congratulations are not for the NNPP or Abba, they are for the Supreme Court.
“If they had ruled otherwise, they could have been stoned on the streets of Nigeria and nobody could have been able to ride a car with the inscription of ‘supreme court of Nigeria’ and there would have been a total loss of confidence in the judiciary.
“I am congratulating Mr. President for not interfering in the judiciary because Nigeria could have been on fire by now if what happened on Friday did not happen.”