My challenger Ashiru is a true democrat: Governor Sani

Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani has praised Isah Ashiru of the PDP who challenged his election victory at the Supreme Court.

On Friday, a five-member panel of the court headed by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun finally dismissed Ashiru’s petition, finding it baseless.

In its ruling on the Kaduna State governorship dispute, the Supreme Court confirmed the election of Sani as governor of the state.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today program on Friday, Sani applauded his rival’s action and said what he did has deepened democracy and the rule of law.

“If you remember, he was in court. After the court, he ran to the Court of Appeal, after the Court of Appeal now the Supreme Court. For me what he did was worthy of praise. That is the role of democracy.

“I want to take this opportunity to thank my brother and friend, Isah Ashiru, for at least accepting the legal process and venting his anger by going to the Supreme Court at this critical time,” he said.

“If you are not satisfied, you should go to the judiciary. Of course, that’s what he did. Today it is clear that the Supreme Court unanimously confirmed my choice. Of course, the sentence was very correct.”

He further asked Mr Ashiru to join him in developing the state.

“Now that the election has been confirmed by the Supreme Court, I would like to ask Isah Ashiru to join me in moving Kaduna State forward.

“That is why I want to invite him and any other citizen of Kaduna State who has something to offer to come, let us work together in the spirit of democracy.”

Background

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Sani, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the winner of the March 18 elections.

Sani polled 730,002 votes to defeat Ashiru, who polled 719,196 votes.

Jonathan Asake of the Labor Party came third with 58,283 votes, while Suleiman Hunkuyi of the NNPP obtained 21,405 votes.

Both the gubernatorial electoral tribunal and the appeals court had earlier dismissed the PDP candidate’s petition for lack of merit.

The court said that the petitioners had abandoned their petition for failure to request the issuance of a pre-hearing information sheet after the close of arguments as required by paragraph 18 (1) of the first schedule of the Electoral Act, 2022.

The appeal court confirmed the court’s ruling.

Residents rejoice

Some citizens of Kaduna rejoiced with the governor after the pronouncement of the court ruling.

Hundreds of supporters walked through the main streets to express their joy.

Mostly women and youth, they danced to Sani’s popular campaign song ‘Sabon Gwamna’ as they walked through the main streets of the state capital.

Hussaini Lawal who spoke to Premium Times said: “This is a victory for the people of Kaduna. Although previous courts had dismissed the case, we were all waiting for this ruling to put us at ease.

“As you can see, the people of the state love Uba Sani. He is a well-known person in the state, so we are all happy.”