Abdullahi Ganduje, National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has revealed what his party used to impeach Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf.
The governor, who ran on the banner of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), was declared the victor of the March 18 election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), but the APC contested the outcome and went to the tribunal.
The lower court had thrown out Yusuf’s 165,663 votes because they were not signed or stamped by INEC.
The governor’s vote total was then cut to 853,939, while Nasir Ganuwa’s APC rival’s vote total remained at 890,705.
The verdict was appealed by the NNPP and Governor Yusuf at the Appeal Court, but they were unsuccessful. The court determined that Yusuf was not a member of the party for which he ran.
Ganduje responded to the Appeal Court decision by saying Kwankwaso was so keen to become president that he didn’t realize INEC had stopped receiving candidacy papers when he joined the NNPP.
READ ALSO: Impeachment: Ganduje forms 9-man committee to handle Ondo’s crisis
The APC national chairman stated that they were aware of the development and waited for the appropriate time to attack.
Ganduje said, “They were in PDP and when the crisis heated up and they were punched repeatedly they left the party and started groping for a platform. Unfortunately, they ran into a political party symbolizing fruits. They were given tickets because their leader was daydreaming; their leader was ambitious to be the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, but he was frightened.
“And because they desperately wanted a governor in Kano State, the party gave them a ticket to contest. But they made a serious blunder because when they joined the party, INEC had closed submission of nomination forms. But they were blind and uneducated. They went into the ring without making careful observation of this.
“They did not know that we laid in wait. We took the file, submitted it to Dr Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna and told him to hold it tight. When we filed a petition at the Kano governorship election tribunal, we told the court that they were not fielded by the party. We told the court that when INEC closed accepting names of candidates, they did not join the party.”
