From Maduabuchi Nmeribeh, Kano
Kano state government on Thursday maintained that victory is sure for Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje come January 20 at the Supreme Court, insisting that the Imo gubernatorial case is never apposite with the of Kano state.
According to a statement by the state Commissioner of Information, Malam Muhammad Garba, Governor Ganduje is confident of winning his case at the Supreme Court, following email events at the Kano Governorship Tribunal and the Appeal Court sitting in Kaduna.
Garba said, “the APC government in Kano state dismisses as deceptive and unjustified attempt by members of the opposition PDP to denote that the principle applicable in the Imo state governorship case ruled by the Supreme Court is also pertinent to the Kano case awaiting verdict at the Apex Court.”
He maintained that there is absolutely no correlation between the facts and circumstances of the Emeka Ihedioha case and that of Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
He added that, “the man Buba Galadima was speaking from the point of view of unbridled ignorance of the law, facts and circumstances of Governor Ganduje’s case.
“In the former (Ihedioha case), whilst there was glaring evidence of the cancellation of results by officials other than the presiding officers, in the latter case (Governor Ganduje), there was no evidence of such cancellation by officials other than the presiding officers.”
Garba further stated that, “there was proven evidence in Governor Ganduje case, that the cancellation of the 207 polling units were carried out according to the provisions of the Electoral Act which gives mandate to unit Presiding Officers as was clearly depicted in the numerous Form ECG 40s tendered and admitted in evidence without any objections by the petitioners.”
He pointed out that, “in the Ganduje case, there was also the inability of the INEC to collate the results of 62 polling units in Gama ward comprising of over 48,000 registered voters in an election with a lead margin of only 26,000 votes.
‘’What is worse, the statement continues, is that the disruption of the collation of the said results was caused by the PDP agent, one Dr. Yakasai who testified as Principal Witness (PW30) and who admitted that whilst the said results were being collated, a commotion arose and he carted away the original results of INEC and hid himself in a room for over one hour with a Biro with him.’’
He added that, “while the Principal Witness kept the sensitive INEC documents in his custody for another hour before allegedly taking the said documents to the Kano Commissioner of Police instead of INEC, in the end, only 12 of those results were tendered in court by the police.
‘’How on earth was the INEC supposed to collate the said results? Could the INEC have declared in an inconclusive election and thus disenfranchise over 48,000 voters in an election where the lead margin is only 26,000 votes?’’
Garba noted that, “the so-called expert witness called by PDP admitted on oath that after his study of all the results, he agreed with the unit Presiding Officer’s cancellation of the results of 77 polling units on the basis of over voting, which in law is an admission of against interest the various courts are obliged by law to accept and which the two lower courts accepted.”
He urged the people of Kano, “to remain calm and disregard the enduring propaganda embarked upon by the PDP in order to discredit the verdict of the Supreme Court which from all indications and presentation of facts, will be in the favour of Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.”
