The National Working Committee (NWC) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has formally reacted to the verdict of the Supreme Court on the Kano governorship election dispute.
Recall that the apex court in its judgment on Friday invalidated the judgments of the election petition tribunal and the Court of Appeal which had sacked Kano State Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf and gave the victory to the APC.
In the aftermath of the judgment, reports (not in Daily Trust) had emerged that a former governor of Kano State and leader of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, had reached a pact with President Bola Tinubu, to allow Abba Kabir Yusuf to remain governor of the state.
Kwankwaso had, however, denied reaching any agreement with President Tinubu or any other person regarding the governorship dispute.
Also reacting to the report, the APC’s deputy national organising secretary, Nze Chidi Duru, during an interactive session with newsmen at the weekend in Abuja, said party leaders didn’t trade off Kano.
Duru added that, “I did not see any politics in it. I did not also see any arrangement on the basis of that. What did happen was that at the trial court, they understood the fact differently. At the Court of Appeal, they also understood it but more importantly, at the Supreme Court which is the final arbiter in the judicial process, a different understanding was given to it and a pronouncement was made accordingly.”
He also dispelled claims in some quarters that Senator Ifeanyi Ubah who recently defected from the Young Progressive Party (YPP) to the APC was being tipped as the party’s candidate for the 2025 governorship election in Anambra State.
“Nothing has been decided, nothing will be micro-managed, nobody has been identified as candidate of the party ahead of time. There will be a primary election and a candidate that will be arrived at on the basis of that will be a candidate that enjoys the support of the rank and file of members of the party in Anambra State,” he said.
In another development, Duru said the party was working towards the implementation of former Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s committee report on true federalism.
Recall that the APC had set up a 23-man committee on true federalism, headed by El-Rufai, which submitted its report on January 14, 2018.
The committee recommended that power be devolved to states on issues, such as policing and resource control, among many others. But the report was not implemented by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Duru, however, said there are internal moves by the Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje-led NWC to ensure the implementation of the report by the President Bola Tinubu-led government.
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