A coalition of Northern Nigerians has described the sacking of Kano state Governor Abba Yusuf as truncating the will of the people.
The leader of the coalition, Hajia Aishat Ismail said this in the South West city of Ibadan during a peaceful protest. She urged the President, Bola Tinubu to address the growing political tension in Kano State and indeed northern Nigeria. She also called on the president to tackle the issue of banditry and general insecurity across the country.
The protesters demanded immediate solutions to the economic hardships experienced by most Nigerians.
The coalition of protesters, mainly northern Nigerians resident in the six states that make up Nigeria’s Southwest noted that they were not happy with the recent political developments in Kano State where Governor Yusuf Abba was kicked out of office by the courts. They said if this is not properly addressed, it could snowball into a socio-political crisis.
Other areas of discontent for the aggrieved Nigerians are travel expenses of government officials, unemployment, alarming insecurity in Northern Nigeria, and the perceived truncation of the will of the masses through suspicious judicial pronouncements.
They urged the judiciary to remain apolitical by ensuring that the voice of the ordinary Nigerian is amplified.
Members of this forum called on President Bola Tinubu to focus on delivering dividends of democracy to Nigerians.
The Court of Appeal in the capital Abuja had sacked Abba Yusuf as governor of Kano State, upholding the decision of the lower election petition tribunal that earlier nullified the governor’s election.
The three-member panel of the Court of Appeal led by Moore Adumein, in a unanimous judgment, declared Nasiru Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the March 18 governorship election in Kano State.
The tribunal had declared Mr Gawuna of the APC the winner of the election citing invalid votes cast in favour of Mr Yusuf.
But the Court of Appeal, in addition to that, disqualified Mr Yusuf as a candidate in the election, because he was not a member of the NNPP as of the time of the election.
The court added without being a member of a political party, Mr Yusuf could not have been validly nominated to run for the election in March.
Abba Yusuf had rode on the popularity of a former governor of the state, Rabiu Kwankwaso, and his political machinery, the Kwankwasiya Movement, to defeat Mr Gawuna of the then-ruling APC in the state.
But Mr Gawuna challenged the election outcome at the Kano State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.
The Police in Kano had clamped down on groups protesting in the state following the sacking of the governor.
The electoral umpires, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had in March 2023 declared Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) as the winner of the poll but the state governorship election petitions tribunal sacked him in September.
SPEAKERS
HAJIA AISHAT ISMAIL (Convener, COALITION OF AREWA SOUTHWEST FORUM)
AHMAD SABO-SULEIMAN a Member of the Coalition of Arewa Southwest Forum
AJALA ABIODUN -SULAIMAN (Student Union Leader)
SULEIMAN BELLO-JIGABA (MEMBER COALITION OF AREWA SOUTHWEST FORUM)
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